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Can Torture Survivors Reclaim Their Lives After Pain?

Published on 06.01.2025
Reading time: 6 minutes

Torture is a systematic violation of a person’s humanity, identity, and dignity, as well as a blatant breach of all human rights values and standards. Despite being banned globally, torture continues in many countries, where countless individuals worldwide suffer under its practice.


On December 8, the world woke up to the news of the fall of Assad’s regime in Syria. Prison doors were opened, and the accounts of survivors from the regime’s prisons began to pour out. Horrific stories of years of terror, injustice, starvation, and crimes against humanity started to surface. Survivors spoke of the “human slaughterhouse,” the “death camp,” rape, and the most grotesque methods of torture and humiliation imaginable.

This news shocked the entire world. These stories, almost beyond comprehension, revealed torturers who had lost all semblance of humanity and compassion. These tormentors had mastered horrific methods to inflict severe pain and systematically humiliate prisoners. This historical moment is not just a testament to the regime’s brutality but also a call to the world to act and hold those responsible for these crimes accountable—a stain on the history of humanity that must never be forgotten.

Torture is a systematic violation of a person’s humanity, identity, and dignity, as well as a blatant breach of all human rights values and standards. Despite being banned globally, torture continues in many countries, where countless individuals worldwide suffer under its practice. In December 1984, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, opening it for signature, ratification, and accession. The convention entered into force in June 1987.

As of June 2024, 173 countries have legally committed to the convention’s obligations. However, governments worldwide continue to challenge international law by practicing torture. Under the UN Convention, torture is defined as any act inflicted by authorities or individuals with official capacity that causes severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, intentionally imposed for a specific purpose. Torture is often used as punishment, to spread fear within society, to extract information or confessions, or to penalize a prisoner for acts they or someone else committed.

According to the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), more than 70,000 torture survivors receive treatment annually at IRCT centers worldwide. However, this figure is far less than the actual number of torture survivors globally, with the Syrian case underscoring the difficulty of ascertaining true numbers.

How many crimes has this regime committed? How many prisoners have wished for death inside these prisons? We are confronted with countless stories and shocking testimonies from survivors suffering severe psychological disorders and memory loss. Survivors recount horrifying and painful experiences, including brutal beatings, electric shocks, nail extractions, cigarette burns, forced painful positions, and prolonged suspension of bodies. They also describe sexual torture, including rape, sexual humiliation, and forced nudity.

The deliberate deprivation of basic necessities—such as food, water, and medicine—is another barbaric practice that rises to the level of compounded torture, combining physical harm with psychological oppression. One harrowing testimony recalls a cancer patient pleading with his jailer, saying, “For God’s sake, I have cancer,” only for the jailer to mockingly reply, “Why bring it with you?” Testimonies also recount feelings of oppression, sadness, and humiliation, as detainees faced relentless abuse and mockery during their captivity. One particularly moving story tells of a victim who hesitantly returned to the site of their imprisonment after the collapse of tyranny, standing with tear-filled eyes as memories of their painful past resurfaced.

The Lasting Impact of Torture

The physical effects of torture can last a lifetime, including chronic physical pain, scars, headaches, disabilities, muscle and joint pain, dental pain, abdominal pain, hearing loss, vision problems, cardiovascular issues, sexual dysfunction, nerve damage, and more.

The psychological wounds of torture are equally profound, often resulting in long-term mental health damage. Humiliating treatment can lead to enduring trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety. Survivors often experience memory loss; many have lost memories due to the years of imprisonment and torture in Syrian prisons.

Sexual humiliation, including forced nudity, strips victims of their identities, causes immediate shame, and creates a persistent threat of sexual and physical assault. This can lead to severe depression, PTSD symptoms, and overwhelming feelings of fear, sorrow, and shame that are difficult to overcome. Here lies the importance of family and societal awareness in correcting the concept of shame and disgrace, which should be associated only with the perpetrators of these crimes, not their victims.

According to the Mayo Clinic, PTSD is a mental health condition resulting from an extremely stressful or terrifying event. Victims often experience flashbacks, nightmares, intense anxiety, and uncontrollable thoughts about their experiences. Other psychological effects include avoiding anything that reminds them of the torture experience, persistent negative emotions such as fear, guilt, anger, or shame, hypervigilance, difficulty sleeping, concentration issues, loss of self-worth, and social isolation.

Solitary confinement can lead to hallucinations, paranoia, perceptual distortions, depression, anxiety, and difficulty concentrating and remembering. It also causes heightened sensitivity to external stimuli and problems with impulse control.

It is essential to highlight the urgent need to address the psychological consequences of torture and work toward alleviating their impact to prevent these disorders from worsening. If neglected, they could lead to devastating outcomes that undermine the foundations of families and threaten their cohesion.

Treating Torture Victims

Thousands of recently released detainees face enormous challenges. They urgently need comprehensive healthcare, psychological support, and assistance in finding livelihoods. However, their return occurs amidst dire circumstances, with their homeland weighed down by a severe economic crisis. Thus, the inclusion of torture survivors as a priority requiring immediate attention and urgent response is crucial, allowing them to access full justice.

Comprehensive rehabilitation is essential to helping torture victims reintegrate into society and rebuild their lives. Adopting a holistic approach to healing, which includes providing physical and psychological treatment as well as family and community support and financial compensation, offers survivors a real chance to overcome their experiences, rebuild their lives, and regain a sense of safety, confidence, and self-worth.

Justice remains incomplete until their torturers are held accountable. Legal actions must be pursued in Syria and internationally to prosecute perpetrators for their crimes and achieve justice.

Establishing and strengthening effective legal frameworks to ban torture is a cornerstone of any program to combat this inhumane practice. This requires transparent and independent monitoring of detention centers, serious investigation of torture allegations, and collaboration with international mechanisms. Training law enforcement personnel on human rights and preventing crimes against humanity, alongside raising public awareness, can significantly contribute to addressing and preventing torture.

The question remains: how long will this barbarity continue to dominate our world? Is it so difficult to feel a sense of humanity? Can’t we decisively and finally put an end to this global tragedy? Ending torture is not merely a moral demand; it is a humanitarian and legal necessity requiring earnest collective effort from governments, civil society, and international institutions to achieve justice and dignity for all.

Until that is realized, we salute the Syrian people, who have faced one of the most brutal regimes in modern history with courage and resilience.