By Al-Fassel and AFP | 2023-10-12

THE HAGUE -- Syria has tortured tens of thousands of its people and maintains a "widespread and pervasive" system of "abhorrent treatment," world court judges heard Tuesday (October 10) at the first international case over the war.

Canada and the Netherlands have dragged Syria before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), 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.

The Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad snubbed the hearing 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 "standardized" punishment method involving contorting people into a car tire 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.

Canada's main representative, Alan Kessel, said Syria had taken the "regrettable" choice not to appear but "this does not mean the world is absent."

"The al-Assad government must respond and stop the torture that is rampant in that country... We've held up a mirror to the Syrians. They should look in that mirror," Kessel said.

By sending militias into Syria to prop up the regime, Iran has been complicit in the regime's abuse of Syrian civilians, observers have noted. Militias financed by Russia also support Syrian regime forces.

'Nightmarish conditions'

"I was in prison in Syria for three years, and I know for sure that torture is happening around the clock," said former prisoner-turned-activist Ahmad Helmi.

"It's happening around the hour."

"It doesn't happen only for interrogation. Sometimes it happens for fun, just because they feel they enjoy impunity. They can do whatever they want," he said.

"Hundreds of people are dying under torture every month," Helmi said in an interview before the hearing. A few dozen activists protested outside the court at the Peace Palace in The Hague.

Balkees Jarrah of Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the ICJ needed to act "to prevent further abuses against Syrians, who continue to suffer under nightmarish conditions and whose lives are in serious jeopardy."

While there have been individual war crimes cases linked to the Syrian war in some countries, there has long been frustration at the lack of any wider plan for international justice.

The Dutch first launched a bid in September 2020 to hold Syria responsible for alleged breaches of the United Nations Convention against Torture, to which Damascus is a signatory.

Canada joined the case the following March.

Earlier this month, a Türkiye-based watchdog issued a report titled "Buried in Silence," that claims Syrian regime authorities abused and left detainees to die at a Damascus military hospital.

They used the facility to cover up the torture of prisoners, per the Association of Detainees and the Missing in Sednaya Prison (ADMSP) and former detainees.

Sick prisoners sent from detention facilities to the Tishreen Military Hospital rarely received any medical attention, the rights group said.

Instead, security forces at the hospital jail and even medical and administrative staff inflicted "brutal torture" on detainees, including physical and psychological violence.

Important for victims

The International Criminal Court (ICC) -- a war crimes court that, like the ICJ, is based in The Hague -- has been unable to deal with Syria because Damascus never ratified the Rome Statute, the tribunal's founding treaty.

The situation has gained renewed attention after al-Assad's return to the international fold in May, when he attended an Arab League summit.

Describing the hearings as a "watershed" case, HRW hoped the ICJ proceedings would shine a spotlight on al-Assad's return from isolation.

Activist Helmi said there was no chance of "rogue state" Syria accepting any decisions by the ICJ but insisted that any ruling was still important for victims and families.

"We are not talking about a local court somewhere. It's not me saying torture is happening. This will be the ICJ saying that torture is happening," he said.

"And whoever wants to re-normalize the Syrian regime, they will have this tag on their forehead that you are normalizing with a state that is torturing people around the clock."