A/HRC/28/69 127. ISIS has adopted practices that may lead to acts tantamount to enforced disappearance, in breach of its obligations under international humanitarian law. Forming part of the attack identified in paragraph 90 above, their practices constitute a crime against humanity. 3. Unknown perpetrators 128. Syrians have disappeared after being abducted by unknown armed individuals. In those circumstances, it has not been possible to identify the perpetrator to the commission’s standard of proof. Such cases include that of Syrian human rights defenders Razan Zaitouneh, Samira al-Khalil, Wael Hamada, and Nazem Hammadi who were abducted in Duma (Rif Damascus) in December 2013. At the time, the area from which they were abducted was under the control of an anti-Government armed group. There has been no information about their fate or whereabouts since their disappearance. E. 1. Torture and other forms of ill-treatment Government forces 129. Since the start of the unrest in Syria in March 2011, Government forces, notably agents of its security and intelligence agencies, have tortured and ill-treated men, women and children in their custody. 130. Numerous interviews concerning the treatment of detainees between 10 July 2014 and 10 January 2015 further evidence earlier factual and legal findings made by the Commission. Most accounts come from torture survivors. 133. Almost all interviewees who had been detained in Government facilities detailed being tortured and held in horrific conditions. Most were civilians who had also been beaten from the point of arrest or abduction – usually at checkpoints – to their arrival at the detention centres. With the exception of those kept in solitary confinement, all had witnessed the torture of other detainees. As detailed above, several witnessed the deaths of cellmates and/or saw bodies of detainees in other areas of the facilities. Many bear physical and psychological scars. 134. In this reporting period, the majority of accounts of torture and ill-treatment occurred in detention centres in Damascus and Rif Damascus governorates, most particularly in Military Security branches 215 (Raids branch), 235 (also known as Palestine branch), 227 (Damascus regional branch), 248 and 291 (Investigations branches); Air Force Intelligence branch in Mezzeh military airport; in Mezzeh Military Hospital 601 and Tishreen Military Hospital; and in Sednaya prison. Branches 248, 291 and 293 are housed in the same facility in Kafr Sousa. 135. Former detainees also reported being tortured in Government detention facilities and prisons in Aleppo, Dara’a, and Hama governorates. Torture was also recorded as having occurred at a facility run by the Government’s paramilitary group, the National Defence Force in the Al-Joura neighbourhood of Dayr az Zawr city between May and October 2014. 136. Methods of torture remained consistent across time and governorates. In this reporting period, former detainees described being beaten on the head, bodies and soles of feet with wooden and metal sticks, hoses, cables, belts, whips, and wires. Detainees were also sexually assaulted; given electric shocks, including to their genitals; burnt with cigarettes; and were placed in stress positions for prolonged periods of time. A substantial number of male detainees reported having their hands handcuffed behind their backs and then being suspended by their wrists from the ceiling or a wall for hours. Detainees emphasised that they were beaten not only during interrogations, but also in the cells by the prison guards. 42