Rights body uncovers Syrian torture cells

Syrian intelligence agencies are running torture centres across the country where detainees are beaten with batons and cables, burned with acid, sexually assaulted, and their fingernails torn out and later forced fed to them, Human Rights Watch said in a report.

The New York-based rights group identified 27 detention centres that it says intelligence agencies have been using since President Bashar al-Assad’s government began a crackdown in Mar 2011 on pro-democracy protesters trying to oust him.

Human Rights Watch conducted more than 200 interviews with people who said they were tortured, including a 31-year-old man who was detained in the Idlib area in June and made to undress.