Between The Lines - Suzanne Nossel: Amnesty International Report on Torture in Syria (Week Ending March 30, 2012)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

Thank you for donating

If you've made a donation and wish to receive thank you gifts for your donation, be sure to send us your mailing address via our Contact form.

See our thank you gifts for your donation.

The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

Subscribe to our Weekly Summary & receive our FREE Resist Trump window cling

(Car window cling)

Email us with your mailing address at contact@btlonline.org to receive our "Resist Trump/Resist Hate" car window cling!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives.

You can also listen to full unedited interview segments from Counterpoint, which are generally available some time the day following broadcast.

Subscribe to Counterpoint bulletins via our subscriptions page.

BTL Blog

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Special Programming

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Progressive Resources

A compilation of activist and news sites with a progressive point of view

Share this content:

|

Subscribe to BTL

Podcasts: direct or via iTunes

Subscribe to Program Summaries, Interview Transcripts or Counterpoint via email or RSS feed

If you have other questions regarding subscriptions, feeds or podcasts/mp3s go to our Audio Help page.

Between The Lines Blog

Stay connected to BTL

Learn how to support our efforts!

Tweets by @BTLRadioNews

Amnesty International Report: Syrian Government Opponents Subjected to Systematic Torture

RealAudio MP3

Posted March 21, 2012

Interview with Suzanne Nossel, executive director of Amnesty International, USA, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

The conflict between protesters calling for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the military loyal to the regime continues to escalate. The shelling of cities and towns such as Homs, which has killed and injured hundreds – along with running battles between government troops and the opposition Free Syrian Army is transforming what was once a civilian uprising into what many fear will lead to full scale civil war.

One day before the first anniversary of the Syrian uprising on March 13th, a new Amnesty International report was released documenting the torture of protesters under President al-Assad. The report is based on interviews conducted with Syrians who fled to Jordan after being tortured or witnessing torture. Amnesty interviewed 25 individuals, and 19 of their testimonies appear in the report. Meanwhile Human Rights Watch has accused some of Syria’s armed rebel groups of committing serious abuses against captured members of the security forces. Thus far the death toll from the current uprising is estimated at more than 8,000.

Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Suzanne Nossel, executive director of Amnesty International, USA, who provides disturbing and graphic descriptions of several forms of torture. She says many of the torture techniques reported by victims and witnesses have not been seen in decades, although some had been used under the current president's father, Hafez al-Assad, who is charged with massacring more than 10,000 Syrians during his reign. Nossel also discusses the diplomatic actions Amnesty is calling for in order to end the repression and torture in Syria.

SUZANNE NOSSEL: We've taken direct testimony either from people who were the victims of this torture, or who witnessed this torture, who document just an array of horrifying medieval practices that the Assad regime is using to torment dissenters, to threaten people, punish people, frighten people and extend their clampdown on individuals who are in detention through the most brutal means.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Even though it's upsetting to hear, can you briefly enumerate some of these methods, just so listeners have some idea of what's being done?

SUZANNE NOSSEL: Sure. Flesh gouged out by pincers; people being hoisted up on a tire and being beaten on their feet and their bodies; people being hung on hooks; people being strapped to a foldable wooden board and then the two ends of the board are ratcheted toward each other so the back is forced to bend almost into a V, and while this is happening the person is beaten; crucifixion, believe it or not; people being forced to watch the rape of other detainees; electric shock -- water being splashed on individuals and the floor and then an electric shock being applied so that it goes through the individual's body; reports of an electric chair being used; threatened rape; pushing a broken bottle into somebody's anus; so just an array of the most brutal and horrifying methods.

BETWEEN THE LINES: You spoke to 25 people. Do you have any idea how widespread this treatment is?

SUZANNE NOSSEL: You know, it's hard to say, because of course it's hard for people to travel outside the country; many people remain inside Syria, so it's very difficult to make a judgment about how widespread these methods are. But the fact that we went into Jordan and were able to make contact with 25 people who documented these practices was significant.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Did most of the people you know about who were tortured survive? Do you know if many have died after torture?

SUZANNE NOSSEL: People did report cases of other detainees witnessing deaths and the killings of other detainees. One case, somebody spending the night with a corpse together in a cell, so there are cases of people dying in custody, yes.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Is there any indication that the armed opposition to Assad is conducting any of this kind of torture?

SUZANNE NOSSEL: We have some reports of abuses committed by members of opposition groups, including abductions and killings of people who were outspoken in their support of the government. We're disturbed by that and we're documenting that, but it doesn't come close to the scale of the abuses, much less the torture, that we've documented at the hands of the Assad regime.

BETWEEN THE LINES: There's been an attempt to pass a Security Council resolution condemning the violence by President Bashar al-Assad, which hasn't passed because Russia and China oppose it. Amnesty has called for stronger measures -- for Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court, which in mid-March just delivered its first conviction since being founded in 2002. In the world of diplomacy, what do you think has to happen next?

SUZANNE NOSSEL: You know, most important of course, is for the Assad regime to end this brutal onslaught on its own people, and to uphold respect for human rights; to hold those, including those at the very top of the regime, who are responsible for these brutalities and these abuses, accountable. So the first obligation is with them. We've seen action in the U.N. Human Rights Council and the U.N. General Assembly, but the place where action has been blocked is the U.N. Security Council, which is the foremost body charged with addressing matters of peace and security and Russia and China have exerted their veto twice now to block action on Syria, and the net result is protection for the Assad regime, continued support for the regime, and the absence of the kind of concerted international pressure that would be necessary to generate change. So we're calling on Russia and China to shift their position, to come out in strong support of forceful U.N. Security Council action and a referral to the International Criminal Court. You know, I would just say with these new revelations brought to light of the medieval brutality and just calculated infliction of misery through these draconian and horrifying means, hopefully that is enough to jostle those who stood in the way of action to see the situation for what it is and coming out forcefully on the side of Syrians who are simply, in most cases, peacefully trying to exert their right to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and their right to participate in their own governance.

For information on Amnesty International USA, visit www.amnestyusa.org.