Syrian Gulag

Shortlisted for the 2024 British-Kuwait Friendship Society Prize
An estimated 300,000 people have been detained or have died in prison since the Syrian uprising broke out. Syrians can be arrested for liking a post on Facebook or for the political activities of a distant relative. They are imprisoned without trial, and tortured and starved, often to death.
This book is the first to expose the worst prisons in the Middle East, if not the world. In previous years it had been too dangerous to undertake research on this subject, but the enormous numbers of Syrians taking refuge in neighbouring countries and Europe has allowed unprecedented access to their stories.
Based on interviews with both the victims and perpetrators, survivors' memoirs and notes, as well as leaked regime archives, leaked photos, and leaked intelligence files, the book is a testament of the internment and imprisonment system in Syria under the rule of the Assads, father and son (1970-2020).
A harrowing account of the machinery of the Assad dynasty, Syrian Gulag is also an urgent exposé on Syria today.

Ugur Ümit Üngör is Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies, Holland. He has won several academic awards and held visiting positions in Dublin, Vancouver, Budapest, Toronto, and Los Angeles. His most recent publication is Paramilitarism: Mass Violence in the Shadow of the State (2020).
Jaber Baker is a documentary filmmaker, novelist and human rights activist. Between 2002 and 2004 he was held in a military prison in Syria. He has 16 years' experience of research and specialises in the Syrian prison system.

List of Illustrations
Introduction
Intermezzo 1 The Guilty Dream

Part One The Intelligence Agencies
1 The Military Intelligence
2 The Air Force Intelligence
3 The State Security or General Intelligence
4 The Political Security Division
5 The Military Police
Part One Conclusion
Intermezzo 2 Poem in Morse Code

Part Two The Prisons

6 Mezze Military Prison
7 Palmyra (Tadmor) Military Prison
8 Saydnaya Military Prison
9 Civil Prisons
10 Secret Prisons
Part Two Conclusion
Intermezzo 3 Our Children in the World
Conclusion
Intermezzo 4 To Err is Human
Appendix 1 Biographies
Appendix 2 Torture Methods
Appendix 3 Food
Appendix 4 Diseases and Medicine
Appendix 5 Prison Lexicon
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index