Syrian Gulag

Inside Assad’s Prison System

Jaber Baker and Ugur Ümit Üngör

An estimated 300,000 people have been detained or have died in prison since the Syrian uprising broke out. Syrians can be arrested for liking a post on Facebook or for the political activities of a distant relative. They are imprisoned without trial, and tortured and starved, often to death.

This book is the first to expose the worst prisons in the Middle East, if not the world. In previous years it had been too dangerous to undertake research on this subject, but the enormous numbers of Syrians taking refuge in neighboring countries and Europe has allowed unprecedented access to their stories.

Based on interviews with both the victims and perpetrators, survivors’ memoirs and notes, as well as leaked regime archives, leaked photos and intelligence files, the book is a testament of the internment and imprisonment system in Syria under the rule of the Assads, father and son (1970-2020).

A harrowing account of the machinery of the Assad dynasty, Syrian Gulag is also an urgent exposé on Syria today.

Ugur Ümit Üngör is Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies, Holland. He has won several academic awards and held visiting positions in Dublin, Vancouver, Budapest, Toronto, and Los Angeles. His most recent publication is Paramilitarism: Mass Violence in the Shadow of the State (2020).

Jaber Baker is a documentary filmmaker, novelist and human rights activist. Between 2002 and 2004 he was held in a military prison in Syria. He has 16 years' experience of research and specialises in the Syrian prison system.