Rarely do you find a person with an interest in Middle Eastern politics, or a citizen of the region who is not familiar with the renowned Al-Assad family of Syria. The Assads, originally from Al-Qurdaha in North West Syria, are members of the minority Al-Alawite sect (branch of Islam) that have ruled and controlled Syria’s foreign and domestic policies for over four decades with an iron fist.

In comparison with the region’s dictators, the Assad family has created an infamous reputation for being the Middle East’s most violent and brutal regime. Father of current President Bashar Al-Assad, Hafez Al-Assad’s rise to power took place throughout 1964-1971.

A member of the Syrian Ba’athist party that in practice was ruling Syria at that time, he jumped through military ranks which resulted in him moving from Major to General in less than one year. This was followed by an appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, Minister of Defense, and finally President after an intra-party coup which resulted in the 1970 Syrian Corrective Revolution.

Throughout his rule, Al Assad’s reign was marked with the use of extreme violence to sustain his rule. A famous landmark of his career was the 1982 Hama Massacre which was personally conducted by Rifaat Al Assad (Hafiz’s brother) and executed by the Syrian army. The target of the massacre was to brutally suppress a Sunni opposition against Al-Assad and ended with the death of some 40,000 citizens.

Ironically, Bashar al Assad reached power in a similar way to his father. Residing in London to finish his medical residency as an ophthalmologist, he was called back to Syria in 1994 after the sudden death of his brother Bassil, who was initially being groomed from birth to be his father’s successor.

All eyes turned to Bashar who made Colonel by 1999, and following his father death in 2000, he was voted as leader of the Ba’ath Party, President, and Commander in Chief through a public referendum.

The referendum that was voted on the day Hafiz died, lowered the minimum age for a Presidential candidate to 34, Bashar’s age at the time, and Bashar was made President with an astonishing 97.2% of the votes.

The horror of the regime today

The hand of the Syrian regime does not only reach its own territories, it extends and spreads fear across its border through several political allies that might do the unthinkable to please it. Despite that, one should not see the suffering of the brave Syrian people and remain silent anymore.

What you see on the news or internet of shooting or bombarding or physical abuse are only minor tricks of what the regime really has up its sleeves. The real horror presents itself in the inhumane torture that goes on in prisons and investigations rooms.

Bear in mind that the Syrian regime does not rely on physical torture only, its main objective is to achieve severe psychological damage to their victims via the latter. With the extensive use of force and violence, the Syrian Regime aims to break the will of all citizens that oppose it through degrading human value in ways you can’t imagine.

Through planning, training or “experimenting” on a handful of citizens, and execution of their means using large masses, the Syrian regime has displayed high professionalism in its ways and earned first place in comparison with other Arab governments as the Middle East’s most ruthless and vicious regime.

The methods of torture vary depending on the investigators sadistic ratio of pleasure or how bad they need information to unjustly charge someone with a crime, which makes what went on in Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo a walk in the park.

Men, women, and children whipped with stinging electric wires. Spark plugs wired to car batteries being attached to victims’ toes, fingers, or even genitals with high current electricity running through them as their tormentor pleases.

Prisoners forced to drink a large quantity of liquids and then tying up genitals, thus forbidding the victims from using the bathroom and making them feel like their bladder will literally explode. The latest case was the holding down of prisoners’ faces towards the breach (rear) of an RPG launcher, followed by firing the RPG, and scorching the victims’ faces with the immense heat emitted from the launching.

One of course cannot forget the “usual” methods the various Syrian governmental personnel carry out. Beatings, blindfolding, handcuffing, deprivation from sleep, and being squeezed into tires are means of sending a message to all that oppose the Syrian regime.
Following China and Russia’s veto in the Security Council session to condemn Syria’s acts of violence on its own people, the regime freely continues to carry on all sorts of vicious methods to try and silence the voices calling for freedom.

What is more saddening is that the Syrian people have called for international interference and are being massacred on a daily basis without any official condemnation for merely political interests of super and regional powers. The apple does not fall far away from the tree, and Bashar Al Assad continues to carry his father’s legacy of brutality. How long can the Syrian people endure this, only time can tell.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/panarmenian_photo/

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An opponent of the Cuban government died Sunday morning after having been arrested on Thursday and detained for three days, according to Andrea Rodriguez of Associated Press. Juan Wilfredo Soto, age 46, died at a hospital in the central city of Santa Clara;  his cause of death was suspected to be the result of the beatings he received while in custody.

Guillermo Farinas, a fellow dissident, told AP that Mr. Soto was detained during an anti-government protest on Thursday and was hospitalized upon his release from custody. The attending doctors told Farinas that he died of pancreatitis, but Farinas explained that he had not seen the death certificate yet.

Mr Soto was among the supporters of a 134-day hunger strike alongside Farinas last year in a call for the release of political prisoners. Despite the fact that Soto’s cause of death is yet to be confirmed, fellow activists are blaming the police for his death.

Elizardo Sanchez, another prominent dissident and leader of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, told the BBC that he was convinced the death was related to Soto’s detention. “We believe that the blows he received were a catalyst,” he said, adding: “We do not think there was a political intent to kill him, but there was a struggle when he was yelling anti-government slogans.”

Witnesses told CNN that Mr. Soto was resisting arrest on Thursday, which caused the police to start beating him in public view. Soto had before served 12 years in jail as a political prisoner. Officials from the Cuban government have not been available for comment.

Sanchez is calling for an open investigation of the incident, and argues that the Cuban police are becoming increasingly brutal. The death of Soto follows that of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a 42-year-old dissident who died in February last year, after an 85-day hunger strike over demands for better prison conditions. The incident provoked the release of 52 political prisoners three months later. More than a hundred prisoners have since then been release, most into exile in Spain.

Soto was buried on the day of his death, and Reuters reported that some 80 people attended his funeral, including prominent dissidents. It is unknown if his death will be officially attributed to police brutality since Pancreatitis, inflammation of the pancreas, has a number of possible causes. Farinas also acknowledged to AP that Mr. Soto had a number of pre-existing health issues including diabetes, circulatory and heart problems, and gout.

The Cuban government has called the small community of dissidents “mercenaries” of the United States, which they claim finance the resistance with the purpose of undermining the revolution. Sanchez has told the AP that physical intimidation and violence against dissidents has increased in the last two months.

Mr. Farina echoes this statement in the BBC report; “If we do not do something, so that the government changes its stand toward peaceful protestors, we are going to be reporting even more deaths.”

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