DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) 鈥� The death of a young man with a serious medical condition who was arrested and allegedly beaten by security forces has stirred up dark memories of torture and other abuse in detention centers under the Assad dynasty鈥檚 decades-long rule.
Syrians have taken to social media and the streets in recent days to demand answers about the death of Mohammad Ghamira, who was buried Monday in his hometown of al-Haffah in coastal Latakia province.
When insurgents unseated former President Bashar Assad in December 2024 after a nearly 14-year civil war, they opened the . During Assad’s rule, rights groups say, thousands of prisoners were killed in mass executions or died from injuries and disease. Detainees were subjected to torture, beatings and rape.
Officials with the government of interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa have promised accountability in Ghamira鈥檚 case, but rights groups say it is not an isolated incident and that abuses persist in detention centers.
The detainee had hemophilia, which affects blood clotting
Ghamira, a 29-year-old father of two, was a former volunteer with the civil defense organization, which operated in opposition-held areas before Assad’s fall.
He died in a hospital in Latakia on Sunday after being released from jail. He had been detained days earlier following an “allegation of theft involving a sum of money,鈥� Latakia鈥檚 internal security command said in a statement, without giving more details.
Syria鈥檚 Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed al-Saleh, who was previously head of the White Helmets, said on X that Ghamira had died of 鈥渃omplications from cerebral and gastrointestinal hemorrhaging鈥� that 鈥渞esulted from a beating he sustained after being detained at the al-Haffah police station.鈥�
Al-Saleh and Ghamira鈥檚 relatives said he had hemophilia, a condition affecting the blood鈥檚 ability to clot.
Ghamira鈥檚 uncle, Issam Ghamira, said in a video interview with state news agency SANA that the family had told the police chief in al-Haffah that his nephew had hemophilia and warned against hitting him. Despite that, he said, his nephew was hit while in custody.
Syria鈥檚 interior ministry announced an investigation into Ghamira鈥檚 death and said seven interior ministry personnel were detained for questioning.
Syria鈥檚 Interior Ministry spokesperson Noureddine al-Baba, speaking to journalists, acknowledged 鈥渟hortcomings and deficiencies鈥� in some of the country’s police departments but said others were doing 鈥渆xceptional鈥� work.
鈥淕od willing, this painful incident will serve as a catalyst for positive change in the operations of the ministry of interior,” he said.
Watchdogs call Ghamira鈥檚 death part of a wider problem
In a report released in March, the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic said it had documented 鈥渢orture and ill-treatment鈥� in 18 official detention facilities and 12 鈥渕akeshift facilities鈥� in different areas of Syria between January and October 2025, in the months following Assad’s ouster as the new government asserted control.
The practices it documented included beating prisoners with rifle butts, sticks, pipes, bars and cables; the use of electric shocks and other forms of torture; mock executions; and sexual violence.
Syrians for Truth and Justice, a human rights organization that tracks abuses, in a report published earlier this month said that 鈥渟evere beatings, electric shocks, humiliation, threats, deprivation of basic necessities, and deaths in custody continue to be common practices at the hands of multiple security and military actors.鈥�
The group concluded that the incidents were too widespread to treat as isolated incidents but that there was not evidence of a 鈥渟ingle centralized system equivalent in structure and direction to the torture apparatus entrenched by the Assad regime.鈥�
鈥淚t is somehow widespread, but it鈥檚 not structured,鈥� Bassam Alahmad, the group鈥檚 executive director, told The Associated Press. 鈥淔or us, there is no evidence that these orders came from the commanders to torture people, but still (the authorities) have a responsibility to stop this behavior.”
Syrians whose loved ones disappeared or died in detention centers during Assad鈥檚 rule said they were disturbed to see the patterns being repeated under the new government.
Families for Freedom, a group representing relatives of detainees, said in a statement, 鈥淲hat happened to Mohammed reopens the wounds of torture and death in detention for thousands of Syrian families 鈥� practices Syrians have struggled for years to end, and the recurrence of which cannot be accepted today.鈥�
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Sewell reported from Beirut.
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