Al-Khatib prison is a detention and torture center in the

Muhajreen Muhajreen ( ar, المهاجرين, al-Muhajreen) is a municipality and a neighborhood in the central part of Damascus, Syria, on the slopes of Mount Qasioun. The name means 'the immigrants'. It contains Abu Rummaneh, Al-Haboubi, Al-Maliki, Al-Mara ...

neighborhood of central

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. It is operated by

Branch 251 Syrian General Intelligence Directorate (GID) Branch 251 ( ar, إدارة المخابرات العامة الفرع الداخلي (251)), also known as internal branch or ''Al-Khatib'' branch, is the unit of the Syrian General Intelligence Dire ...

of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate. Al-Khatib, like many prisons under the regime of

Bashar al-Assad Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...

, is known from testimonies given by former detainees and survivors who recount the poor conditions and use of systematic and generalized torture that included rape and sexual violence. A significant number of deaths occurred due to this, some of which have been identified in the pictures taken by photographer César. During the Syrian civil war the prison held demonstrators, political prisoners, and human rights activists. Anwar Raslan, a former Syrian colonel who was convicted of crimes against humanity in Germany, was in command of Branch 251 that managed the prison.

Justice

At the beginning of 2019, two former employees of the Branch, sergeant and colonel Anwar Raslan, were arrested in Germany. They were tried for atrocities committed within Branch 251 between 2011 and 2012. In January 2021, Eyad al-Gharib was found guilty of complicity in crimes against humanity, for having transported demonstrators to the Branch. The verdict at the sentencing of al-Gharib officially recognized that crimes against humanity had been committed at al-Khatib. The judges declared that at the prison of Branch 251 of the Syrian information service, brutal physical and psychological violence was used to force confessions, obtain information about the opposition movement, and to prevent prisoners from participating in further demonstrations against the government. On 13 January 2022, Anwar Raslan, whose trial took place after the conviction of Al-Gharib, was found guilty of crimes against humanity by the High Court of Koblenz, as well as of the murder of 27 detainees between 2011 and 2012. He was sentenced to life in prison and is required to compensate the victims.

United States sanctions

The

Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic was set up by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on 22 August 2011 to investigate human rights violations during the Syrian Civil War to establish the facts ...

identified Branch 251 and Al-Khatib prison as a facility controlled by the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate where death in detention and torture have occurred.

References

Prisons in Syria Torture in Syria Damascus Protest tactics 21st-century criminals Male criminals Syrian colonels Refugees in Germany Prisoners and detainees of Germany Living people Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Germany Syrian emigrants to Germany People convicted of torture People of the Syrian civil war Year of birth missing (living people) {{Syria-stub