A/HRC/22/59 91. Methods of torture, detailed by the commission in previous reports, remained consistent across the country. For many, scars and wounds, consistent with their accounts, were still visible. 92. Abuses were also reported in unofficial detention centres. People were physically assaulted by soldiers in locations such as shops or schools before their transfer to an intelligence agency. Others described perpetrators as members of the Shabbiha from nearby “Alawite” or “Shia” locales. 93. Multiple reports were received of people beaten at checkpoints, particularly in Dara’a and Latakia governorates. Others described assaults inside military barracks. 94. Several people reported being beaten or witnessing the beating of others during house searches. There are corroborated reports of men beaten and killed by soldiers during house searches in Mare’a, Idlib, between 23 and 28 August, as well as in villages in Dara’a, in October. Reports were also received of individuals beaten during house searches in Jabal Al-Zawiya in Idlib (July), Saqba in Damascus (July), Qastal Ma’af and other Turkmen villages in Latakia (early September) and the Al-Ghadam area of Damascus (December). 95. It is of grave concern that, in the majority of cases reported, beatings were a prelude to executions. 96. Detainees were held in overcrowded cells, some of which were underground. None received medical care during detention. There were two reports of detainees dying in cells from their injuries. Most were provided with inadequate food and water, with one stating that he and other detainees drank their own urine to survive. The accounts, if verified, would breach the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. 97. Torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment were perpetrated by Government forces and affiliated militia as part of a widespread attack directed against a civilian population, pursuant to or in furtherance of an organizational policy. Torture in official detention centres is also part of a systematic attack on a civilian population. Torture and other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity were committed. Such conduct is also prosecutable as a war crime. 98. Intelligence agencies, in particular Military, Political and Air Force Intelligence, are primarily responsible for torture and ill-treatment. 99. The conditions of detention described would, if verified, constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 2. Anti-Government armed groups 100. Credible reports were received indicating that Government soldiers or members of affiliated militia were tortured while detained by anti-Government armed groups. 101. Several interviews centred on the treatment of captured Government soldiers and members of the Shabbiha (or those perceived to belong to local Shabbiha groups) in Aleppo governorate. Methods of torture included beating with electric wires and sticks. In one case, a man detained with 54 others in a house in Aleppo stated that he had seen 8 detainees die from their injuries. Others had sustained severe injuries, including broken bones, during their interrogations. An FSA commander in Damascus stated that he had beaten a detainee in order to get him to “confess”. The detainee was later executed. 102. Torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment were committed by anti-Government armed groups during interrogations of captured members of Government forces and those they believe to be members of the Shabbiha. 16 GE.13-10627