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The Social And Psychological Effects On the Dإtente and the Deprivation of Civil Rights Mohammed Issam Dimashk
Introduction: Prison, is the most widely spread and applied mean of discipline. It is classified under the mechanism of control and restrain, which is used by the governments and regimes to produce and reproduce the social and political control. Therefore, prison is the distinguished machinery through which the concentrated work is accomplished to achieve the mentioned goal. This implementation is used to fulfill the social, political and security application and reach the final goal, which is the continuity of the ruler and the subjugation of the ruled. Human, historical, political, moral and democratic developments discussed the role of prison as a social function. Also, they questioned if the prison is a form of punishment, could it succeed to restrain the prisoner from violating the law again? Does prison and its elements, such as, the jailer, prisoner's relationships, the system of the prison and the moral-social views of the prison, allow the rehabilitation of the prisoners? Furthermore, would prison achieve the second social function, which is restraining the individuals of society from violating the law? Most responses were negative. Often, prison produces criminals, who make benefit of other prisoners' experiences, and become more dangerous. Moreover, the relationship between the prisoner and the jailer causes a lot of deformations for both sides. It also, opens a wide span of corruption. Still, in spite of the anticipated knowledge about the results of wrong deeds, the individuals of society continue their violations to law. This means that the elements of the social and economical position overcome the expected role of prison.
The study of the social function of prison
is an important matter, which is not approached yet, especially in
The function of the Political Prison: The political prison aims at the reproduction of political control to the class, group, Party, government and others. It also, aims at restraining or eliminating the opposition. It is clear that this function is related to the non-democratic political systems. In a democratic country, the existence of a political prisoner, who might often be arrested because of an act of violence, is related to the function of state-society. Actually, it is related to democratic institutions, state of law and independent judiciary, but not to the service of a certain authority or a regime. Thus, law and judiciary are independent from the direct politics and from the temporary benefits of the governments. Even the governments' political interference seems to be a part of social reproduction, which is understood and accepted by the political and social institutions. The non-democratic system has different titles, such as, national, socialist, communist, nationalistic, Islamic, and others. In these systems, prison, in addition to the other worse historical mechanisms, like eliminations, executions, genocides and others, are the direct means to reproduce the political control of a ruling authority that considers itself the representative of the historical, revolutionary or religious legitimacy. This authority permits the application of all implements to consolidate its control. All the forms of regimes relay on one mutual well-known Machiavellian principle, which has two divisions, first, "the end justifies the means", secondly, the exclusion of morals away from politics. W. Reich says in his speech to "The Small Man of the Street", "You believe that an end justifies the means, even these villainous means. You are wrong, the end paves for itself a way to reach it. Thus, each step you make today is a part of your life for the future. There are no clean ends, which could be reached by villainous means. The wickedness or inhumanity of the way makes you villainous or inhuman and make the goal impossible to reach"ژ(1)گ. As for the systems, which do not consider its important source is the human, the individual, it is so easy to accept the genocide of millions of those, who confuse or destroy the achievement of a communist future. Also, they accept the imprisonment and execution of millions, or thousands of those, who object the nationalistic unification, social reformation, progress, socialism or antagonize imperialism!
The intellectual nationalist, Nadeem Al
Bittar, said: "If the leadership of the new state, the The bad and dangerous side is that some rulers, intellectuals or politicians do not only monopolize these beliefs, but also these beliefs expand to include wide sectors of masses. Actually, the masses are the most hurt of such practiced system because of "the repressional conscience", as Hadi Al Alawi described that. In fact, the social diversion is still superficial and could not make fundamental diversions for people's behaviors and consciousness. Usually, the changes are related to the forms, which clarify the repressional conscienceژ(3)گ. We should not only face the oppression of the rulers, but the oppression of the groups and individuals, who are against the desecration of human rights, because they suffer from that as well. Still, they are ready to practice opression, and they do it, even through their opposition. However, the essential problem is related to the authorities, because they own the controlling system and have the capacities and implements of influence and actions. Therefore, instead of "directing the mutual affairs logically"ژ(4)گ, as Kawakebi defined the politics, the authority practices despotism and "the dispose of mutual affairs according to its whims"ژ(5)گ. Again, does prison accomplish the continuity and the reproduction of the political control? The answer would be on two levels, the first is an imminent and direct one. On this level we have to confess that the authority, often, achieves its goals, except in some exceptional historical periods in which the repression is rebounded toward the rulers, then, the oppositions stop and deter the nation. However, the society becomes tamed, subservient, contemptible and tractable. This will enable the ruler to continue his governing without the need for comprehensive powerful restrains, which he applied at some periods. "Tigers at the Tenth Day" is a short story written by Tamer Zakria. The writer expresses the growth of subjection in a wonderful way. "At the beginning, the jailed tiger was not asked for more than confessing its hunger, and the food would be afforded. Then, the tiger was ordered to become motionless, later, to imitate cats' meow, donkey's braying and clapping for the trainer. At last, the trainer considered the tiger a flatterer, thus, he punished the tiger by feeding it grass instead of meat. By the tenth day, the trainer and his students disappeared, the tiger and the cage, too. The tiger became a citizen and the cage a city!"ژ(6)گ The magnificent speech was "Citizens, we have, previously, clarified in many occasions, our attitude toward the fateful matters. However the antagonistic powers conspired, this strict attitude will never change, and by faith, we will gain victory"ژ(7)گ. The second level is a further and historical one. In fact, no one guarantees that the comprehensive and the deep repression procedures consolidate neither the continuity of the system forever nor the non-collapsing of the historical changes, whether it happens peacefully and quietly or violently. Here, we have, in particular, the former experiences of the socialist countries. Without doubts, this historical experience urged and will urge the rulers not to ignore this reality.
The tangible level of our research, here,
relates to the imminent and direct level. Therefore, we will try to
observe the effects of detention and prison phenomena, which often
continue for a long time, as well as, all the accompanying severe
violations of human rights that influenced all the sides of living in
The Effects of the Detention Phenomenon: It was narrated that one Arab president said once, the following: "In his country, he had people who looked for high ranks and he could afford the right positions for them. Also, he had people who desired wealth, which he could afford. On the other hand, he had people who did not want neither ranks nor money, thus, they had to go to prison". This vision relies on the principle of "eternity", punishment and reward. The punishment is for the opponents and the reward is for the followers. Even though, we should not forget that the mentioned narration includes valuable appraisal of the opposition who do not desire either money or prestige. This evaluation contradicts the speech of the regime, which accuses the oppositions for running after authority, or serving their own external or internal benefits. In fact, the oppositions are people of programs, whether wrong or right programs, which should have the chance to interact with the actual events and thoughts. The program's interactions must reach to people, to enable self-correction and to have the real chance of effectiveness. Without gaining money or rank, most of the individuals of the nation prefer to live in peace, if they can have peace, and rely on the aphorism "Kiss the hand you cannot break and wish it to be broken". Thus, when the opposition emerges, the nation, or part of it might sympathize with it, but they remain cautious and negative as long as the authority is the stronger side.
Of course, this principle has exceptions.
In
For a certain period, it seemed that the
regime perceived the depth of the social movement. Therefore, before
settling completely, the political leaderships of the regime had limited
attempts of self-revision. Also, they listened to the opinions of the
intellectuals, writers and scholars, and thought about developing the
ruling Progressive National Front. Soon, the regime introverted and was
convinced to exceed the crisis of the country by depending on the
Party's heritage and the commandment's experience. Thus, the regime
decided the dissolution of the opposing associations of the
professionals, such as, lawyers, engineers and doctors. Also, it
detained some of the associations' leadersژ(8)گ
and re-established all the unions in a way that guarantees support to
the regime. On the military and security level, the regime defeated the
armed disobedience in The regime exceeded its crisis, but founded a deeper crisis in the society, which made people full of fear. Accordingly, the families of the killed, missed and jailed citizens had to withdraw and endure their wounds, also, most common people withdrew and took care of their living conditions. The intellectuals retreated to their private creations and the oppositions dislodged in the near and far countries. The rest, who remained, suffered very difficult conditions of living and remained without any considerable efficiency in the political field. Thus, our country became the country of fear.
The last annual report of Committees for
Humans Rights, which was issued for the first time inside This number of prisoners deserves to be viewed, especially that the prisoners were subjugated to exceptional tribunals and oppressive verdicts, thus, most of them spent long periods in jail. The late improvements of detentions and arrests do not give us an excuse to ignore studying this phenomenon and approach its negative effects on society and the individuals. We, clearly, warn the new generations of the danger of this phenomenon and we help to understand it and attempt to decrease its tragic influences.
Prison of Mazzah was the most important
political prison and, probably, the only one in
The delight for closing the Mazzah
Military prison, lately, has a symbolic value, especially, for the
prisoners. When this prison was closed, it included a little number of
political prisoners, less than five prisoners. In fact, the real delight
happens after the closure of The political prisoners are treated much worse than the other prisoners. This paradox is clarified in all means of imprisonment, such as, place, treatment, food, visits, and financial assistance from domestic associations, besides, permitting the prisoners to continue their university studies and other facilities. This contradicts the legal codes, which require regarding the social and political conditions that caused the political offence and to deal with the political prisoner according to this view. The mentioned paradox means doubling the negative effects of the imprisonment's phenomenon, in general. This phenomenon expanded and exceeded the individual cases, which affect the prisoner's family, relatives and friends. Actually, it reached the extent of causing a real social disturbance that could be recognized in various regions and among wide range of the masses' mediums. In fact, this matter needs specialized field studies by researchers and psychologists. Until now, the researches have the following obstacles: 1) The ruling authorities prohibit any approach to these files because they consider this subject has one aim, which is to libel and scandalize them. Moreover, the authorities do not care for the social effects of detention. 2) The lack of secured environment, which allow the injured persons to present their information and experiences of prison. The former condition of terrorism that they suffered at prison is still alive in their images; thus, they often prefer to keep silent or to falsify flowery information. Former prisoners suppose that they might be interrogated or pursued again, in a time that they are tired of their bitter experience and desire to settle and rest. Also, most of them believe that giving any information, which unmasks the authority might obstruct the release of the remaining prisoners. 3) Lack of education and consciousness among masses about the importance of the human rights. When knowledge is found, it is usually restricted among the political and intellectual elite, who started to pay attention to the importance of this matter, especially, the leftist elite. 4) Lack of public organizations, which are dedicated to defend the Human rights. The members of the unique above-mentioned organization were detained and scattered. Although this committee returned back to work, by the connivance of the authority, it runs activities without a legal frame and it issues statements on its own responsibility. In the spring of 2001, the authority closed various forums, which were concerned with reformation and democracy. The Forum of Khalil Ma'took for Human Rights was closed at the beginning of its activity. The forum's aim was to spread the education and consciousness of human rights. This forum included lawyers and intellectual activists of different political and ideological directions. The work of the opposing political organizations still has obstacles because of restrictions and lack of press and informational freedoms. Due to the endured forced absence from society over a long time, the relations of these organizations with masses weakened or became disconnected, especially, with the new generation. Besides, the work of the organizations still needs to be developed and deepened. So, this work requires an environment of democratic freedoms in order to grow.
5) The applied political-intellectual
speech about the local, cultural and national particularity accuses the
activities of human rights and who deal with that of prejudice and
serving the imperialistic policies. This speech is still prevailing,
officially, and is adopted by the Parties of the Progressive National
Front, which assisted by its silence and deliberate mislead to disguise
the real position of the human rights in
This expresses the case of big parts of
the Syrian intellectuals who consider democracy one of their political
primacies. The particularity of our country is not less than the other
countries of the third world. Still, there is a tangible progress of
human rights in other Arab countries like, In spite of the above-mentioned obstacles, I will try to approach the effects of the prison's experience within three axes. The first relates to the prisoners, the second relates to the society and the third is related to the jailer (the institutions of detention and the prison).
The Positions of the Prisoners in
The estimated number
of prisons in There are differences between the positions of prisons according to the place and variations that relate to the specific period of imprisonment. The permanent position is that there is no law, which organizes the conditions of the prisoners and defines the ways of their treatment. The jurisdictions of the prisons' directors and the directions of the security branches differ from time to time and from one prison to another, depending on this director or that head of a branch or others. Besides, the treatment of political prisoners differs from one group to another. This confirms what we pointed out before about the political reference in dealing with the prisoners and the political and security benefits of the regime and its institutions, which are far from relating to a legal or human reference. Any law, however oppressive, has restrictions on the jailers' behaviors, but this type of jailer cannot accept these restrictions. Generally, the worst treatments were noticed with the religious groups, then, with those who were Pro-Iraqi Ba'ath. There was no recognition between, who used arms and who did not, or who belonged to an organization or did not, or who had a real relation with the organization or was near from one of the organizers. Religiousness was considered a strategic reserve for armed work, thus, prisoners were treated according to what they might be. Therefore, the known juridical principle, which relates to the innocence of the accused until the accusation is confirmed, was completely blown up. This principle is confirmed in the International Declaration of Human Rights, Article No. 11.
One bitter paradox is that at The discrimination between the political powers might seem logical if the law is considered the origin of recognition. Indeed, those who commit crimes and violence must be treated legally, even if they have death sentences. However, this punishment is still a subject for discussions. Another paradox is that corruption has a positive role because it improves the position of the prisoners and renders them services during some times and in certain conditions. Visits, which were prohibited, were achieved by big amounts of money and valuable gifts for the director of the prison first or to his relatives, or to an officer at one of the branches. The families were ready to pay big amounts of money just to be sure that their sons were still alive! From time to time, there were scandals here and there about the collusion of inquisitors and security cadres to render services for the prisoners in return for money. In many cases, the families were the victims of extortion, which was practiced by some authority cadres, who contacted the parents and claimed having information about their detained sons. In our attempt to study the positions of the prisoners, we choose three sources. The first is an old source in order to confirm two points, firstly, that the attention for the positions of prisons is not just a modern novelty because its relation to the human side assures reviewing in previous historical periods. Secondly, it is connected to what is called "local particularity". This means that those who are convinced with the local particularity are, eventually, ignoring the elevation of the human thoughts. The second source is new and international, which expresses the human and civilized rise. Flowingly, the third is related to the subject of prisoners and to human rights in general. The First Source: It was mentioned in the book of Hadi Al Alawi "Chapters from the Political Islamic History"ژ(10)گ as follows: "Abu Saif, Judge of Judges during the rule of Haroon Al Rasheed, presented a plan for reforming prisons, which deteriorated so badly. Actually, the government did not provide any sustenance for the prisoners and left them to be sustained by their families. In the case of poor prisoners, they let them go begging, chained and guarded by jailers. The directory did not bury the dead prisoner; it left that job for his companions at the same dormitory. Besides, the dead prisoner was buried without any religious rituals, such as, wash, shroud and prayers. Abu Yusef condemned these positions and said to Al Rasheed: "Adam's son cannot be stripped of guilt", therefore, committing violations is not his nature, but because of two reasons: "either ignorance or destiny". So, the punishment should not be exaggerated, to become a sort of vengeance". Plan of reformation: It was as follows: 1) To appoint a fair employee to register the names of wretched prisoners. 2) To allot monthly amounts to be paid for the registered prisoners, each had 10 Dirhams per month. 3) To afford clothes for the prisoners. 4) Wealthy prisoners had to sustain themselves. 5) To review the cases of the prisoners. Thus, each prisoner who deserved punishment would be punished and who was innocent should be released. 6) To prohibit beating the prisoners. 7) To use common methods of inquiry and to prohibit the confession by force of torture. Any confession under torture can not be regarded". The Second Source: Haytham Manna mentioned it in "A Short Universal Encyclopedia of Human Rights"ژ(11)گ. In our age, the rights of prisoners were issued in a convention adopted by the first conference of the United Nations in 1955. It was about the protection from crimes and the treatment of prisoners. Then, it was adopted by the Social and Economical Council in May 1977. The formation of these rights start from considering the prisoner, firstly and lastly, a human being, and the prison cannot deprive him of this value. In fact, "imprisonment" is a punishment; thus, the prisoner should not be exposed to other additional punishments. The rights approve for the prisoners the minimum ideal rules, which should not be contested. These rules are connected with the prisoner's right to live, his safety, his health, his human dignity, and to have a fair application of law. Besides, the prisoner should not be exposed to torture, maltreatment or humiliation, as well as, discrimination of any type, whether nationalist ethnic, sectarian, racial or religious. Also, the prisoner has the freedom of faith and religion and the right for family life respect, plus, the right for self-development". Third Source: Is the International Declaration of Human Rights, from which we chose the following paragraphs: A Comparative Study: 1) The origin of punishment: In the old text, "not to exaggerate the punishment and turn it into a vengeance". In the new text, "the existence of a person in prison is a punishment, thus, he should not be exposed to other punishments".
In 2) The Legal Position: In the old text, it means, "reviewing the prisoners cases", in the new text, it means "the fair application of law".
There exist in
We will not approach a specified legal
study of this field, but we can say, in general, that there is no legal
practice for detentions, responsible inquiry, punishment or release.
This position opposes some items of the Syrian Constitution and
contradicts the International Treaties, which 3) Inquisition: In the old text, it means "the use of common methods without torture and if the detained confessed by force, then his confession wont be regarded". In the new text, the detained "should not be exposed to torture"ژ(15)گ.
In Finally, we can say that the Judge Abu Yusef approached an important side that concerned the prisoners' inquiry. Even though, a confession would be applied against the prisoner and, accordingly, would be punished, most often, the prisoners confess in order to escape from torture. Of course, it is not regarded that this confession was by force or under the psychological or material pressure. If someone would deny his confession, which was extorted by the force of security bodies, he will be exposed to a new torture ordered by the civil court until he repeats his confession.
The 4) The Treatment of Prisoners: In the old text, it is mentioned that "it is prohibited to beat prisoners". In the new text, "it is prohibited to maltreat or humiliate the prisoner, or to place him in a dark cell. Also, it is prohibited to combine the solitary isolation with any other kind of punitive punishments"ژ(17)گ.
In
Those who had passed by
There are unbelievable stories about the
methods of torture and insult, which the jailers applied, especially, in
Lately, a Syrian lawyer published an
important study, where he approached what he called as the "secret law",
which is prohibited of publication. This law prevents the Syrian
judicatory to review the crimes of homicide and torture, which are
committed by the bodies of security agenciesژ(19)گ.
Certainly, this law violates the constitutional and legal rules, which
protect the citizen from the authority's attacks, and the known lists of
human rights and the International Treaties that 5) Health: In the old text, there is no direct deal with this subject. In the new text, "Athens Part", "the doctors commit themselves to provide the best care for prisoners' health, for whatever reasons, without any anticipated discrimination. As for respecting the morals of profession, the prisoners have the right to receive the best possible health care"ژ(20)گ. In general, health care is very bad in all the Syrian prisons and branches, even at the best military prisons, like Saidnaia prison. Often, by the virtue of some imprisoned doctors, the health of the prisoners improves, as well as, when they can afford the price of medicines and all the costs of dental treatments. Besides, the prisoner could check with specialized doctors in the hospital and have surgeries.
At 6) The living conditions: In the old text, it is required to "allot amounts of money for those who have no sources of living" and "to provide clothes". In the new text, it is required to have "cleanness of clothing, enough nutritious meals and proper drinking water"ژ(21)گ.
In
Clothing conditions were so much miserable
and were, rarely, provided for prisoners. In 7) Family: The old text did not deal with this subject. The new text recognizes the "right to respect the family life". The directories of prisons do not care at all about this side. On the contrary, the security institutions always try to sow dissension between the prisoner and his family and falsify accusations about him to defame his reputation among his family, besides bearing him the responsibility of being in prison. The directories of the prisons do the same falsifications when families, who try to visit their sons, are called. 8) Freedom of belief: The old text did not deal with this subject. The new text approved the right for "freedom of belief and religion".
In our country, the prisoner is not
allowed to practice his religious rituals, if he does, he practices that
secretly. The atheist prisoner cannot reveal his general ideas or his
political attitudes, if he does, then he will be exposed to more
punishments. During Ramadan, meals are served in the evening and early
morning, which means that the government admits the right of fasting.
Still, the believers, who want to fast and pray, receive punishments in
9) Sectarianism: The old text did not deal with this subject. The new text cleared the prohibition of "discrimination or alignment of any national or ethnic or sectarian or gender or religious sort".
In
The question is: How a non-Alawi prisoner
could be convinced that there are no existence
of authority's sectarianism when he finds all the directors of Is not there a meaning for having most of the discipline assistants and sergeants from Alawi sect? Such directors, helped Saraya Al Difaa to execute the Massacre of Palmyra. The victims of this Massacre were estimated from 600 hundred to 1000 thousand murdered persons. Actually, the Alawi inquisitor and the Alawi cadre, who gives the orders for torture and practices that, is unable to ignore the sectarian charge loaded by the regime, being the protector of his existence from the danger of Muslim Brotherhood. Considering the cadre's cultivation and education, the charged load must affect his feelings and unconsciousness. There are two points to be mentioned: First, Sunni cadres who work in prisons are, usually, directed to execute orders. Sunnis feel that they have to prove their loyalties toward the authority. Thus, they exaggerate the application of orders, so that they won't be accused of sympathizing with their own Sunni prisoners. Second, Alawi security and military cadres do not exaggerate like Sunni's do against the opposing secularist prisoners, because they include many Alawis and other sects of minorities. To include all about the subject of prisoners, we need to mention the following: The Detention and imprisonment of Juveniles:
Usually, juveniles who violate the law are
transferred to special Reformatories, which apply special legal
considerations for their age. In exceptional court, which was accused by the prisoners that it made the ages of some juveniles older in order to send them to the Gallows. The Female Prisoners: At prison, the corrupted oriental man of the regime finds an open chance to practice all the contradictory conducts of a sex-hungry man or, whose sexual life with his wife is not sufficient enough or who has a spoiled sexual cultivation. In detention, the privacy of homes and women are never respectedژ(22)گ. If this happened, then it is due to an individual conduct and moral, which does not accord with the fast missions of attacking and sudden arrests.
Women were, often, detained as hostages or
relatives of the detained or fleeting men, without considering their
pregnancy or parturition. When During the inquiry, in addition to the general methods of torture, a woman is subjugated to sexual torture. Women were stripped of their clothes, tortured and threatened with rape, and they were really raped sometimes, according to the narration of some female prisoners. Also, women were hanged and cauterized on their legs and thighs. Cigarettes were extinguished on the sensitive spots of woman's body, as well as, electrical shocks. Relatives, like fathers, brothers and husbands, were obliged to watch the torture of their relative women in order to make pressure upon them. Lack of accuracy or the exaggeration of some prisoners requires cautiousness until the results of investigations, which are carried by neutral sides, appear. However, it does not seem that the authorities would accept this investigation in order to restrict the real size of violations and protect the responsible cadres. To define the level of responsibilities, the received directions and orders, the individuals' level and role of responsibility in all the violations is actually a very critical matter to be investigated. The Prisoners of Other Arab Nationalities:
Due to political disagreement with the
leadership of PLO, the detention of great numbers of Palestinians
exceeded the particularity of the Palestinian matter. As these
detentions were launched by the name of the
The same matter happened with the
Lebanese, whom most of them were released at the end of last year. The
discordance is still unfinished with the families of the rest-unreleased
dإtentes. Although the Syrian regime
recognized the sovereignty of the In our study, we can notice that the Syrian Constitution as a resource was ignored. During the last thirty years, the constitution did not obtain one text that would assist to appeal for the positions of the prisoners. In fact, the applied exceptional laws and practices do not regard accordance with the constitution, which suffers many contradictions and needs additions and adjustments, mainly, to consider the international treaties that relate to human rights as more powerful resources than the local laws. The Social and Psychological effects of the prison on the prisoner: After reviewing the positions of the prisoners, we transfer to the effects of the prison. We will study the result of social, psychological and sexual suffering of those who are still living inside or outside the prison. At prison, I read a study, which I do not know its source, about an experiment that was applied on a couple of rats. The rats were put in a smaller space than the usual needed one for their movements. The behaviors of the rats were watched for sometime. As a result, due to the narrow space, the rats became nervous with clear agitation. Moreover, the rats practiced queer sex. Actually, the complexity of the nervous and cerebral systems of the human produces more suffering than the rats' suffer. Prison is that "Ghoul, which swallowed the kids", as Haseebah Abd Al Rahman said in her novel "The Cocoon". She wrote: "Mom, what changes happened to the kids, after they spend time inside the Ghoul...and after their bloods were sucked..??!"ژ(23)گ. Months ago, I heard the following story: "A woman was asking her neighbor, how is your son who came out of prison? I hope he is not mixed up because my relative, who spent a long time in prison, is in difficult condition and unhealthy to live normally". The experiences, which a prisoner passes through, affect him mentally and psychologically; thus, they are clearly reflected in his conducts and behaviors. We heard about prisoners who committed suicide after leaving the prison. Let us say that those people have an anticipated ability for suicide, but prison is the main factor that develops a person into such a critical case, which originally, might not be definite in the development of a personality. Disregarding the special cases, we will draw some examples from reality, because we believe that proceeding and researching in such a subject and an environment for freedom will give us results that deserve to be contemplated and studied thoroughly. Halaژ(24)گ Has fear of red color and fear of rape after she was attacked by an attempt of rape. Once, she tried suicide. She has fear of execution. A psychological shock deprived her of ability to talk.
Abu Zakariaژ(25)گ
He has a Ph.D. in Geology, scientifically brilliant, one of the
prisoners had torn out his eye, but he still believes that his eye will
recover. He was in Sژ(26)گ A rural person who suffers schizophrenia. He believes that all people deal with him badly, sometimes, he becomes very aggressive. The medicine stopped the deterioration of his state in the prison. Now, he has been released, but I do not know anything about his position after he left the prison.
I saw and heard of cases, which had lost
the complete personal and psychological balance, to the extent that the
directory of the prison was obliged to isolate them. Some of the badly
disturbed personalities were killed after torturing them in If we want to indulge in the social and psychological effects, which do not destroy the personality and are able to be reformed or, at least, are able to accord with the society again, then the suffering cases will include very big numbers. Actually, most of those who left prison need a social and psychological rehabilitation. Unfortunately, the authority does not help in this field, on the contrary, by depriving the coming out prisoners of their civil rights, legally or actually without a sentence, the authority tightens and declines their chances in life, work and travel. Furthermore, the authority does not give the chance for international organizations to follow the positions of those prisoners and help them. In spite of the natural selection during many years, which let alive only those of strong bodies and mentalities, prisoners often need a special health and psychological care. In fact, the list of social and psychological distortions includes sickness delusion, depression, introversion, and the incorporation with the dominant, besides, the successive nightmares, aggressiveness, egoism, reveries and others. The separation from children and their growth in the absence of one parent, sometimes both, create bitter suffering for the parents and the children. One hero, a prisoner, of "The Cocoon" says about her daughter: "I did not need to see my daughter's sad face, her tearful blaming eyes, words were read behind words, why she fled away from me and left me alone?... I talked to her a lot, was she convinced or not? I do not know. She did not answer or display a single move, or a word, she punished me with her carelessness and left"ژ(27)گ. The absence from the family is so bitter. Hibah Dabbag says in her autobiography: "the anguish of departing my family was my first agony.. my image and body were separated from them by the power of a mighty. This temporary time and the undesired parting were followed by a compulsory vanquishing absence, which threw me into the depth of darkness and the dungeon of prison. Therefore, many were torn out because of their miserable life and were transferred into the mercy of the gracious most merciful God.. the rest were scattered along the wide world and estrangement.. The image turbid.. life darkened.. Roses of hope wilted before sprouting.. And I am at the gloominess of prisons, a hostage, because of my brother, who is a political activist"ژ(28)گ. Concerning the sexual sufferings of the prisoners, In Albert Camus' novel "The Stranger", after a couple of days of arrest, the hero feels hard pressure for sexual need and asks the jailer about that. The jailer tells him that he himself, as well as, all the others feel the same. The discussion of this prohibited subject is still critical; due to fear from society, it is not easy to deal with it clearly and directly. In fact, however the mechanism of its affects is complicated, the presence of sexual feeling is very strong and its influences on the personality cannot be ignored. "When the sexual energy fails to find a way to discharge, whether directly or escalatory, it find its outlet through depression, worry and neurosis illness"ژ(29)گ. The sufferings of the political and judicial prisoners cannot be ignoredژ(30)گ. Although it is prevailed that the political dإtentes endure the problem's intensity because of their, relatively, higher consciousness and education, but the problem is not only the intensity of suffering, it relates to its forms of influences and the results.
We would like to clarify that the prison
urges the prisoner to practice conduct, which does not necessarily
express his anticipated preparedness. In The Repercussions of Prison upon the Family & Society: Prisoners are not the only ones who pay the price. Again, this regime, like all the other totalitarian systems, violates the rule that relates to the solitary punishment. The detention of any member of the family exposes the whole family to suspicions. Usually, the authorities defend this attitude because the traditional society increases the chances of family influences. This logic is, relatively true, but cannot be generalized. Whatever the authenticity of this logic is, it does not justify ignoring the rule of solitary punishment. This sort of treatment urged many families of the dإtentes to immigrate, legally or illegally, before their names would be inquired within the lists of those who are prohibited of travelژ(31)گ. Actually, nobody knows when any of the security agencies would decide to arrest a relative of the dإtentes or the pursued ones. However, from time to time, the relatives of the dإtente are called, threatened and asked to give information about their son and his friends and companions, even the children's innocence are exploited to get information. The most harmful suffer of the dإtentes' families is when they are taken as hostages. Wives, fathers, mothers, brothers and relatives of the demanded persons were hostages for long periods. This phenomenon started to decline after the year 1991. In some cases, the hostages might be a whole family. At prison, I met the father, the brother and the brother in law of one fugitive; they told me that the mother was arrested too. During the inquiry, the arrested has to fill detailed data, which does not only include the names of father, mother, brothers and sisters, but maternal and paternal uncles, aunts with their husbands and wives too, also, friends and companions. The existence of such a form explains the relatives or the companions' shock when they are surprised by a prohibition of travel, employment, promotions or military enlistment. The collective punishment was one of the important forms to subjugate and tame the Syrian society, even those who belonged to the authority's Party and institutions did not escape from this sort of punishment. The collective punishments and the other arbitrary forms succeeded to change the structure of the Syrian society fundamentally, which was formerly known by its wide attention to political work and public affairs. In addition to the former mentioned suffering, the families of the arrested prisoners are exposed to direct and indirect blackmail by the security's bodies and agents. Thus, when these families are allowed to visit their sons at prison, they bear high costs to supply them with money, clothing, food, mattresses, blankets and bed-sheets, which are, restrictedly, afforded by the directories of the prisons. Social joint liabilities vouch for affording the needs of the poor prisoners and are cut off from their families. The most harmed ones of the families' members are the wives of the prisoners. While the law gives the wife the right to divorce her absent husband, who remains away from her for more than two years, the wife, often, wont prefer this choice because of different reasons, such as:
1st- Having mutual confidence with her
husband of his fair case. Still, the continuous position of long-term
imprisonment affects the family so much. The duration of 10 to 15 years
of imprisonment is a common position in 2nd- The wife might not choose divorce because of having children, which burden her with a heavy financial and psychological load.
The traditional structure of the society,
like relatives, often assists in protecting a woman and helping her. Due
to the illegal arrestments and imprisonment in Old aged parents are victims too. Missing their young sons who were arrested in a sudden and terrifying way caused most of them severe illness or sudden shocks, and as a result, early deaths. Children, for sure, are the ideal victims of the illegal detention. In addition to the financial needs due to the absence of their father, the children grow in an extorted atmosphere of cultivation as they depend on their mother's existence alone. This position urges abnormal relationships between the mother and her children, which is clarified through children's denial of their father. Actually, in spite of the mother's efforts to remind the children of their father, they might not welcome their father's return. After imprisonment, a child might treat his father, harshly, because he is not used to his presence at home. A child might consider the former position of his father is the reason for his disappointments among his friends, like when he is questioned about his father's work and his gifts and other privileges. Thus, the children grow with deepened feelings of lack of financial and morale care, which the other children do not lack. Therefore, the father, the prisoner-victim, becomes "unfair" as well. Lately, many people complain about the increasing phenomenon of individuality and the retreat of the joint liabilities, which usually were a characteristic value of the traditional society, who used to consider the lack of the joint help in the western societies as a negative point. Also, the non-political religious manifestation and the religious pretension increased, because it provides a human with comfort and tranquility beside the good reputation. All this was accompanied by the phenomena of corruption, social depravity, moral putrefaction and others. Even though the religious phenomenon is the result of a cultural, social and economical environment, it also relates to repression and prison. The regime alludes to the individuals that they could do anything they want but away from politics. This made the society withdraw from the political and cultural organizations and pay attention to earn living through the difficult economical conditions. Unfortunately, the individuals try to earn their living by all means, disregarding the moral and legal considerations. Except the case of the political oppositions, all illegal violations could be solved by bribery or mediately, in the utmost cases, by spending a couple of months at prison. The paradox is that those who commit big economical violations pity the political prisoners because of their much-complicated position. There is one known joke, which is narrated about the political prisoners. It says that once, a prisoner was brought to a prison's dormitory of one security branch. He asked all the prisoners about their accusations and discovered that each one of them belonged to such a Party or an organization. Thus, he hurried to hit the door of the dormitory and called the jailer saying: "Please, I am a homosexual, do not put me with those politicians!"
When I left the prison, I noticed that my
relatives avoided mentioning my imprisonment. They told their children
that I was travelling away. When I contacted by telephone an old friend
from the prison, who has a conservative inclination, to review our
memories together because I do not need to hide anything from him, he
started to change the subject, mentioning that we were together in
Another friend of mine, during university
times, asked about me, thus, he was told that I was in We can understand why the authorities conceal the subject of prison and prisoners, but why common people attempt this deliberate concealment too? 1st- Due to the suffering, which had been lived through or heard of, the factor of fear has been strengthened in the collective conscience of people. This explains the retreat of most people from demanding democracy and freedoms, which are led by intellectuals in general. After the death of the president, those intellectuals perceived that a small margin of democracy is opened, but soon this margin was tightened again. 2nd- There is a difficulty in separating between the prison as a place for criminals like killers, thieves and others, and the political prison, especially, for young generations. Due to the democratic education and human rights rules, children learn that a prisoner is a criminal who is pursued by fair justice, the policemen. In fact, the children are, only, taught the anthem of the leading Party, its slogans and the glorification of the eternal leader. So, when my relatives and others introduce me to their children, how can they explain my attitude?ژ(32)گ. 3rd- The psychological desire to forget the bitter subject and fold it into the unconsciousness. This facilitates the success of the regime to isolate the opposition from other people because of the severe repression and its tragic social and psychological results; and because of the compulsory years of absence from various opposing directions. In spite of all what I have mentioned about the negative effects of the prison upon society, I cannot forget the wonderful and natural human sympathy, which I received from various social circles. They were of different contradicting religions, sects and ideological belongings, but all of them supported the political prisoners' matter because they were the victims of injustice, who said a lawful word to the tyrannical ruler. This word is the starting point, which all those who are interested in democracy and justice have to start from, in order to form the human rights' education. Human rights and democracy might be connected to each person, differently, according to his believes and Ideologies. But the rights could be generalized to become an independent necessary education and are required for developing our society into an upgraded human, democratic and political one. There is another important political starting point that could be noticed through the left or the right political speech, which includes the matter of the democratic freedoms and human rights as one of the primacies.
Finally, there is another starting point,
which might turn to be the most important one, and it means an actual
conversion of reality. It is about the authority's commencement of
acceptance to deal with the international organizations of human rights.
Besides, issuing orders for declining the arbitrary
detention, lessening the torture, releasing most of the prisoners and
liberating the activities of the Human rights' association in
The Security Bodies of Detention and Imprisonment: Abu Haian Al Tawhidi said: "Who transcends above the lesser, is a diminutive to his superior". The series of the superior and the diminutive that ends by the prisoners is full of social and psychological deformations according to its grades, ranks, benefits and jurisdictions which allow its relation with the arrested and prisoners.
The participation in torturing, watching
or assisting in the collective massacre has side effects, which could
not be covered or prevented by any cultural or political charge, because
it touches the essence of the relation between a human to a human. One
of the most prominent examples that are dealt among prisoners is about
one jailer of
The control of information within the
country does not allow to proceed and investigate
the expected effects upon the bodies of repression. It has been said
that one of the military policemen cadres, in "A cadre, who seemed to be a soldier at the military service, came next to me to check my identity card, after seeing my name, he looked at me and his eyes became full of tears. Agitated and crying, he said: "you are from my town, God help us", I asked him: "why? Is there anything?", he said: "God give us patience, what we can do? God help you". As if I was tumbling down a dark well, I asked him: "Why? Did they come for me?", he said, turning his face away: "Yes". He left and gave my identity card to the head of the soldiers, who was calling: " Waheeba Al Dabag"ژ(33)گ. Any slackening to execute the punishment might cause a harder punishment; simply, a jailer might turn into a prisoner. In addition to the contradiction that a jailer goes through between what he had been charged of and the reality that he discovers, beside his own social and moral values, the jailer endures another economical paradox. Actually, the salary, compensations, promotions and privileges of the bodies of security are much less than the military police cadres' earnings. The wages do not often fulfill the living needs, especially in the capital, where the numbers of security's bodies are intensified. Therefore, in spite of the danger to be discovered, the jailer considers it easy to steal the prisoners or render them services in return for money. From time to time, we hear about a scandal in a prison or a security branch, this could be repeated and duplicated to the extent that it influences the security's directions and disturbs the discipline. This is natural because the legal-organizational positions of detention, imprisonment and the treatment of prisoners are absent. In addition, these bodies are not subjugated to open supervision and the press is prohibited to deal with such a subject. In fact, the official press could deal with the subject of directors, ministers, and probably alludes to the Prime Minister, but can not deal with one single "body of security", leaving aside the officers and the heads of the branches. Thus, the sacredness of these securities created a phenomenon that even the local press wrote about without perceiving its deep meaning. From time to time, we hear about a crime here or a theft there, in which the criminal or the thief claims that he is a security cadre in order to execute his crime. Actually, the grade of fear from the bodies of security does not permit the people to even ask about the identity card of this person. This, of course, affects the reputation of the security's bodies, which is, originally, not a proper one.
The daily torture, the complete liberty
for the inquisitor and the death of the dإtente
are considered normal positions. One of the bitter paradoxes was that an
investigator was punished by solitary imprisonment for 48 hours because
he "killed a man under torture", probably, because the bodies of
security wanted to have more information before the man was killed. It
is, also, a normal position to order the jailer to kill a prisoner, like
what used to happen in
The worse possible effects on the jailer
or the inquisitor happen when they deal with female prisoners. Here,
there is a wide chance for extorting the human personality, which feels
its deficiency, diminution and immaturity in front of women. Due to our
society's structure, this deficiency is not a rare position in B - The Deprivation of Civil Rights:
The deprivation of civil rights was not,
sufficiently, approached by the human rights' demands and the required
constitutional adjustments. Now, the reports and statements of the
international and local organizations started to pay attention to the
necessity of rehabilitation for those who are deprived of their civil
rights. Thus, I will treat this subject according to what I have passed
through and what I heard from many other official sources like, I believe that not only the dispossession of civil rights, which were issued by the State Security Court at the beginning of 1992, should be given a consideration, but also, the dispossession on the actual daily level. The actual application of deprivation happen with those who were exposed to exceptional military courts, exceptional courts, or those who were arrested and released from prison without any tribunal, so that they become enlisted in the files of the security institutions. Thus, whenever they need to deal with official institutions, look for employment, decide to travel or need any other procedures, their past will always be present. Regardless of a verdict existence or not, the official institutions need the agreement of the security institutions.
Those who were exposed to an exceptional
court, in spite of its harshness, do not care for its verdict because of
its illegality, which could be canceled by the Minister of Defense. On
the other hand, the verdicts of the
The rules of As long as a former prisoner is unable to get the certificate of "Non-convicted", most of his official transactions could not be achieved, even at working in the private sector. Thus, the participation in any tender or a contract needs this certificate. Therefore, the authorities expand the effects of punishment till after the prisoner leaves the prison. The stamped identity card of the prisoner, which includes the phrase "dispossession of civil rights", will affect him everywhere. Thus, a released prisoner is obliged to submit explanations and clarifications to whomever he deals with. Consequently, while having a condition of increased unemployment and declined chances of work for the graduates and the scientifically qualified cadres, the former prisoners become exposed to an increased social and economical siege. Then, what can those, former prisoners, who are originally incapable of practicing private jobs, do? In spite of the private sector's cautiousness to employ those who have political or opposition belongings, to avoid security or economical blackmail or pressures, this sector contained a part of those former prisoners, who desire to work and whose physical capacities enable them to work. Also, the traditional family type contained another part of released prisoners. Still, many of these former prisoners are living dependents on their families, who are, originally, poor.
One factor of the former prisoners'
suffering is that due to the long years at prison, they become older and
cannot do any type of work. In addition, many of them have deformations
and physical deficiencies or weak health. As a result of disengagement
from life developments at prison, even those who might have had a
professional experience they might have lost it. Furthermore, the age or
health of the former prisoner might not enable him for a professional
rehabilitation. This position requires the participation of the
government to provide a source to earn living or to compensate those
former prisoners like, in Finally, if the dispossession of voting and election is useless and unimportant at this period, it has a moral value, which should not be neglected. In fact, it makes the citizen perceive his citizenship rights, which means his liberty to vote or not, to elect or not. Actually, the people who have this right, theoretically, are, practically, unable to practice it. We look forward to see when this right will have an actual value and, besides, we allow ourselves to be optimistic about the existence of a real democratic development, which will include our country. While waiting, I join my voice to the voice of the lawyer, Mr. Hasan Ameen Refa'ah. He says: "The International family members, who are included in the General Institution of the United Nations and the Regional, National, Governmental and Civil Independent Organizations have to form and define the compulsory power of the Human Rights' Declaration. Also, the organizations must provide the protection and the necessary power to execute the Declaration and oblige the governments, the independent institutions and the individuals, according to their responsibilities, to include its principles in all the international treaties, legislation and national constitutions. Besides, they must apply definite chastisements' procedures for whoever disobeys these principles"ژ(34)گ. "For the first time, I look at people and they do not see me chained. Do they have pity for me? Or, are they gloating over my grief? I am walking; I am not inside a car. No need to peep through the blindfolds, the windows of the bus or from behind the bars of the food truckژ(35)گ.. From one moment to another, I could hear the tone of that cadre or sergeant and see the image of his facial features.. I wish I would never see any of them... An incidental idea pleases me that they ride cars... I walk from one street to another and from one pavement to another watching peoples' faces and searching about an intimacy that I had been familiar with, or I believe that I had accustomed to. One friend said to me: "People do not deny you due to lack of fidelity, but because of their fatigue, our country is all fatigued."ژ(36)گ. __________ Footnotes: 1) W. Reich, "Listen small man, A Speech about Freedom to the Street Man", translated by Ausamah Hamed, published by Dar Iben Rushd, p. 74. 2) Dr. Salem Hameesh, meetings "With Them Wherever They Are", Al Farabi publishing house, 2nd edition, 1988, p. 104. 3) Hadi Al Alawi, "Chapters from the Political Islamic History", p. 348.
4) Abd Al Rahman Al Kawakebi, "The
Dispositions of Despotism", The Arabic East publishing house, 5) Previous source. 6) Zakaria Tamer, "Tigers at the Tenth Day". 7) Previous source. 8) Many lawyers died under torture like, Mohammed Abed Al Aziz Ka'kah, Zakaria Abd Al Jabbar, Ahmed Abdu and Sa'eed Nino.
9) The Committees for the Defense of
Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights are resuming their work. The
members were detained in 1992 and were exposed to different sentences by
the 10) Hadi Al Alawi, previuos source, p. 128 - 129. 11) Hytham Manna, "A Short Universal Encyclopedia of Human Rights", Dar Al Ahali for publication and distribution, Damascus 2000, p. 205 - 206.
12) For example, Dr. Engineer Karameh
spent 11 eleven years in a solitary cell, who was detained after the
dissolution of the associations of professions. Also, Riad Al Turk spent
18 years in a solitary cell, who was detained in March 1980. Both spent
these periods in the branch of military inquisition in
13) One of the most prominent cases is Mr.
Naseeb Raia, who was convicted by the
14) The International Convention that
related to civil and political rights, which 15) Article No. 5: "It is prohibited to expose any man to torture, punishment, hard treatment, cruelty or humiliation. 16) Syrian Law of Sanctions, Article 391: "Anyone who hurts someone, hardly, in an unaccepted way by law in order to get a confession of a crime or related information will be sentenced from three months to three years of prison. If the violence causes illness or injuries, the minimal sanctions are one year of prison". 17) Hytham Manna, previous source, p. 206. 18) Published in October 1987 about the torture in the Syrian prisons. 19) The Law of the Legislative decree No. 549, dated 25.05.1969, includes in the Article No. 74 the following: "It is prohibited to pursue, judicially, any employee from the State Security Department, whether deputed, imparted or directly contracted, because of crimes that result from the job or during it, before he is remitted to the discipline council of the department and issuing a pursuing order from the director". 20) Haythm Manna, Previous source, p. 206. 21) Previous source, p. 206. 22) The Article No. 18 of the International Declaration of Human Rights guarantees this right. Article No. 12 of the same Declaration includes: "It is prohibited to expose any man to arbitrary interference in his private life, family affairs, his residence, correspondence or reputation. Every person has the right to law protection from any interference".
23) Haseebah Abed Al Rahman, "The Cocoon",
unpublished novel. The writer is a political prisoner from the Communist
Labor Party, she spent 4 four years in women's prison. After she was
released, she participated for a period of time with the activities of
the human rights and democratic freedoms' commissions in 24) Hibah Dabbag, "Just Five Moments", reported from an autobiography of a Syrian female prisoner, who was taken as a hostage in return for her fleeing brother that was accused of belonging to Muslim Brotherhood. She was detained for 9 nine years, 1980 - 1989. Published by the Syrian Committee for Human Rights, p. 28 - 29. 25) I witnessed. 26) I witnessed. 27) "The Cocoon", previous source, p. 223. 28) Hibah Dabbag, previous source, p. 2. 29) Faisal Abbas, "the Personality in Psychol |