This book is an extraordinary achievement. Drawing on extensive primary source material, Baker and UEngoer reveal in an unprecedented level of detail the sheer magnitude of Syria's massive internal security agencies, the bureaucratization of torture on an industrial scale, and the extent to which fear is a constant presence in the lives of ordinary Syrians. The book is unsparing in its accounts of survivors of torture and techniques of torture, and all the more powerful for including them. It makes an unimpeachable case for brutality and violence as defining attributes of the Assad regime. It is also a sobering rebuttal to those seeking the regime's normalization. It should be required reading for all who have an interest in Syria, human rights, and states as perpetrators of mass violence. * Steven Heydemann, Professor, Smith College, USA *
This study is the first in any language to begin to map the Syrian prison archipelago. It is an urgently necessary and timely insight into the workings of Syria's Assad regime. * Anne-Marie McManus, Principle Investigator at the ERC Project SYRASP, Germany *
As some European states have started forcing refugees back to Syria, this book is a grim reminder that for its unfortunate citizens, the violence preceded the use of rockets and barrel bombs, and the threat to their life remains undiminished. What makes this book invaluable is its panoramic picture of Syria's vast repressive apparatus that the uprising failed to dislodge. What makes this book frightening is that unlike Dante, who had to use his prodigious imagination to describe hell, the hell described herein comes from the direct experience of survivors who lived through its various circles of torment. In painstaking detail, Jaber Baker and Ugur UEmit UEngoer have mapped the hellish institutions, sites, and methods through which the Syrian regime has preserved its rule by extinguishing hope and humanity. And through meticulous documentation they've also created an instrument through which the perpetrators may one day be held to account. * Dr. Muhammad Idrees Ahmad, Director of Journalism, University of Essex, UK *
Syria's dungeons have long kept its secrets; places so foreboding and cruel that few dared mention what happens inside them. The war has changed that. Once taboo topics are now being discussed far from the broken country, where former prisoners now in exile are detailing a killing and torture machine that rivals the Khmer Rouge for the scale of its savagery. In Syrian Gulag, UEngoer and Baker open the gates of one of modern history's most infamous prison systems and empower a brutalised people to tell their stories. * Martin Chulov, Middle East Correspondent, The Guardian *
