Daily Times

Syria has tortured tens of thousands of its people and maintains a “widespread and pervasive” system of “abhorrent treatment”, world court judges heard on Tuesday at the first international case over the civil war.

Canada and the Netherlands have dragged Syria before the International Court of Justice, asking the court to demand urgent measures to stop the ongoing mistreatment of thousands still detained.

“Every day counts,” Rene Lefeber, top representative for the Netherlands, told the court. “Persons in Syria who are currently detained or at risk of being detained cannot afford to wait any longer,” added Lefeber. Damascus snubbed the first day of hearings but has previously dismissed the case as “disinformation and lies” and said the allegations “lack the slightest degree of credibility”.

Lefeber cited wrenching testimony from detainees, describing gang rapes, mutilation and a “standardised” punishment method involving contorting people into a car tyre and administering a “severe beating”.

Canada and the Netherlands have asked the ICJ to “urgently” demand that Syria stop all torture and arbitrary detention, open prisons to outside inspectors and provide information to families about the fate of their loved ones.

The ICJ can take years to rule on a case but urgent so-called “provisional measures” can be ordered in a matter of weeks and are legally binding.

“It is our sincere belief that the lives and well-being of Syrians are at stake and require the court’s immediate attention,” said Lefeber.

Former prisoner-turned-activist Ahmad Helmi told AFP: “I was in prison in Syria for three years and I know for sure that torture is happening around the clock. It’s happening around the hour.”