Syrian regime used Damascus hospital to torture, kill opponents

Syrian regime forces have used a Damascus hospital to torture and kill opponents of President Bashar al-Assad, a new investigation has found.

The investigation, led by ITV News, revealed how the regime continues to exploit the special protection status of Tishreen Hospital in northern Damascus to abuse and murder imprisoned opponents since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in 2011.

A number of sources were cited in the investigation, including former inmates, regime defectors, activists, and intelligence officials.

The investigation detailed how doctors and nurses were complicit in torture at the hospital, which was described by one former inmate, who used the pseudonym Adam, as "a slaughterhouse",

Adam told ITV News that a doctor at the hospital told him "you will be dead in a few days" before stabbing him in the chest.

Another former detainee, Mohammed Medlej, spoke of how he witnessed six people being executed in front of him. He had to remove the bodies and pile them up.

According to the investigation, an internal document that was signed in June 2012 by regime General Ahmad Sulaiman Talas, referred to the hospital as the destination for the bodies of "the dead amongst the terrorists" to be "assigned a number".

The hospital was specifically chosen at the time because it was next to one of the largest mortuary refrigerators in the country, with a number of other burial sites including one in a nearby quarry and another in the Baghdad bridge area 10 miles away.

Activists have stated that the site is still in active use, with satellite images revealing open pits made available for burials. According to the investigation, satellite imagery shows that construction on burial plots began in early 2014.

The regime has regularly utilized hospitals as part of its campaign of repression since the beginning of the war.

In 2011 Amnesty International detailed how the regime targeted wounded protesters in care and medical staff treating protesters in hospitals.

The regime and Russia has also systematically targeted hospitals in opposition areas with artillery and airstrikes.