By Suleiman Khalili Reuters

AMMAN – The young man was dangling upside down, white, foaming saliva dripping from his mouth. His groans sounded more bestial than human.

It was one of many fleeting images of human degradation I witnessed during four days as an unwilling guest of Syrian intelligence, when I was detained in Damascus after reporting on protests in the southern Syrian city of Daraa.

Within minutes of my arrest I was inside a building of the intelligence services – known, as elsewhere in the Arab world, simply as the “Mukhabarat”. I was still in the heart of bustling Damascus, but had been transported into a macabre parallel world of darkness, beatings and intimidation.

I caught sight of the man hanging by his feet as one of the jailers escorted me to the interrogation room for questioning. read more