'We took their fingernails out with pliers and we made them eat them. We made them suck their own blood off the floor': Grisly accounts from inside Syria’s '27 torture centres'

Human Rights Watch report released as Syrian President Bashar Assad says he regrets the shooting down of a Turkish jet by his forces last month

Group says tens of thousands of people had been detained across Syria by intelligence agencies

Detainees are beaten with batons and cables, burned with acid, sexually assaulted, and their fingernails torn out, claims the report

'The reach and inhumanity of this network of torture centres are truly horrific,' says Human Rights Watch researcher

Syrian intelligence agencies are running torture centres across the country where detainees are beaten with batons and cables, burned with acid, sexually assaulted, and their fingernails torn out, a report released today has said.

Human Rights Watch identified 27 detention centres that it says intelligence agencies have been using since President Bashar al-Assad's government began a crackdown in March 2011 on pro-democracy protesters trying to oust him.

The New York-based rights group found that tens of thousands of people had been detained across Syria. It conducted more than 200 interviews with people who said they were tortured.

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Torture: This graphic shows one of the methods used by Syrian intelligence agencies to torture detainees. With Dulab the victim is forced to bend at the waist and stick his head, neck, legs and sometimes arms into the inside of a car tire

Awful: Some of those being held in the torture centres would be beaten with objects including cables, whips, sticks, batons and pipes

Painful: Shabeh is another torture method which was used on detainees. It involved hanging the victim from the ceiling by the wrists

This included a 31-year-old man who was detained in the Idlib area in June and made to undress.

He told the group: 'They started squeezing my fingers with pliers. They put staples in my fingers, chest and ears. I was only allowed to take them out if I spoke. The staples in the ears were the most painful.'



'They used two wires hooked up to a car battery to give me electric shocks. They used electric stun-guns on my genitals twice. I thought I would never see my family again. They tortured me like this three times over three days,' he said.

The report was released as it emerged Syrian President Bashar Assad claims he regrets the shooting down of a Turkish jet by his forces last month.



Inhumane: This map shows the various locations and descriptions by some of those who claimed they were tortured by Syrian intelligence agencies

Turkish newspaper The Cumhuriyet quoted Mr Assad as saying: 'I say 100%, I wish we did not shoot it down.'

The Human Rights Watch report found that tens of thousands of people had been detained by the Department of Military Intelligence, the Political Security Directorate, the General Intelligence Directorate, and the Air Force Intelligence Directorate.

The reports documented by the group match those of a former Syrian intelligence officer who told how he was routinely ordered to torture prisoners.



Speaking to CNN, the former officer, who later fled to Turkey with his family, said: 'Whatever we wanted the prisoner to say, he would say. We took their fingernails out with pliers and we made them eat them. We made them suck their own blood off the floor.'



Unbearable: Basat al-reeh involves tying the victim down to a flat board with the head suspended in the air so the victim cannot defend himself

Abuse: Electrocution was also used on those being held in the 27 torture centres

Harsh: Falaqa involves beating the detainee with sticks, batons, or whips on the soles of the feet

Horrific: Human Rights Watch has identified 27 detention centres that it says intelligence agencies have been using since President Bashar al-Assad's government began a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters

Human Rights Watch documented more than 20 torture methods that 'clearly point to a state policy of torture and ill-treatment and therefore constitute a crime against humanity.'

The group called for the U.N. Security Council to refer the issue of Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and to adopt targeted sanctions against officials carrying out abuse.

'The reach and inhumanity of this network of torture centers are truly horrific,' Ole Solvang, emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch said.

'Russia should not be holding its protective hand over the people who are responsible for this.'

Russia - an ally of Syria - and China have already vetoed two council resolutions that condemned Damascus and threatened it with sanctions and French U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud told reporters yesterday that reaching a Security Council consensus to refer Syria to the ICC would be difficult.

'As France is concerned it's very clear we are very much in favor of referring Syria to the ICC,' Mr Araud said.



'The problem is it will have to be part ... of a global understanding of the council and I do think that for the moment we have not yet reached this point,' he said.

Blockade: A wall of of tyres burns in a street in Damascus' al-Midan neighbourhood

Upsetting: This image released by the Syrian opposition's Shaam News Network shows mass burial of people allegedly killed by Syrian government forces in Douma

Protest: An anti-regime demonstration takes place in the Syrian town of Kfar Sousa yesterday U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay yesterday reiterated her position that the issue of Syria's conflict should be referred to the ICC in The Hague because crimes against humanity and other war crimes may have been committed.

She said both sides appear to have committed war crimes. The United Nations has said more than 10,000 people have been killed during the 16-month Syria conflict.

Troubled: Destruction in the restive central city of Homs can be seen Destruction: A damaged building in the town of Duma. The Syrian army kept up its bombardment of rebel neighbourhoods Devastation: Residential homes which have been completely destroyed are pictured yesterday in the town of Duma

Grim: The nightmare in Syria continues as the body of a young girl is held by local residents

PRESIDENT ASSAD CLAIMS HE REGRETS SHOOTING DOWN TURKISH JET

Syrian President Bashar Assad regrets the shooting down of a Turkish jet by his forces, a Turkish newspaper said today. The Cumhuriyet newspaper published the remarks from an exclusive interview with Mr Assad in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Sunday. The paper quoted Mr Assad as saying: 'I say 100%, I wish we did not shoot it down.' Apologetic: Syrian President Bashar Assad has claimed he regrets the shooting down of a Turkish jet by his forces. An F4 Phantom jet similar to the one pictured was shot down on June 22 Turkey says Syrian forces downed its jet in international airspace after it briefly strayed into Syrian airspace on June 22. Mr Assad insists the plane was inside Syrian airspace and flying in a corridor that had been used by Israeli planes three times in the past. Turkey responded by deploying anti-aircraft missiles on the Syrian border, and has scrambled its jets several times after it said its border was approached by Syrian helicopters.





VIDEO: Warning graphic content. Detainees talk about their horrific ordeals...