Victims of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment languish in official and makeshift detention facilities throughout the Syrian Arab Republic (Syria). Detainees are often held beyond the protection of the law and with no access to the outside world. Families desperately seek news of their loved ones, fearing for their safety given widespread allegations of torture and ill-treatment.

This thematic paper seeks to illustrate the suffering of victims of torture and illtreatment inflicted by Government forces, as well as by some armed opposition groups. It draws on 38 interviews, conducted by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), of individuals who were released from detention facilities across Syria and who have courageously recounted their horrific experiences