Enab Baladi – Hani Karazi

“You have no chance marrying our daughter,” this sentence drove Ghazwan almost mad, after hearing it more than five times from the families of the girls he proposed to. This was due to them being informed of his sexual dysfunction during his detention, making him one of many detainees deprived of marriage due to sexual and psychological torture in Assad regime’s prisons.

The Syrian regime has employed sexual torture against detainees, including men, women, and children, since the beginning of the Syrian revolution, according to a report by the Human Rights Watch (HRW). The report noted that sexual torture included rape, insertion of hard objects into detainees’ anuses, sexual fondling, electric shocks, and blows to the genital organs.

“We’ll cut off your lineage”

Ghazwan (28 years old), a resident of Idlib city, was detained in 2014 by Military Security forces while at his workplace on al-Jalaa street. He was transferred between multiple security branches, during which he endured the most severe types of torture, until his release in 2021.

Ghazwan, who works in a mobile phone repair shop, cannot forget every moment spent in detention, especially in the Palestine branch. He recalls, “I remember how the jailer would hang me by my hands for hours, and once left me standing for three days.” He describes the pain from the torture, “the blood almost exploded in my feet from the pain of constant standing.”

It wasn’t just prolonged standing; Ghazwan also remembers being strapped to a chair and electrocuted, “I remember well when the interrogator would kick me in my genitals, saying (we’ll cut off your filthy lineage).”

Continuous sexual torture caused Ghazwan severe pain in his testicles, but his longing for his child and wife made him endure the torment hoping to reunite with them. Indeed, he was released in September 2021 after seven years in detention.

Ghazwan’s joy upon returning to his family was short-lived, as disagreements arose between him and his wife. She was shocked to find that her husband, whom she had waited for and endured his absence for years, was sexually dysfunctional.

Ghazwan said, “When my wife approached me, I felt I had no sexual desire to be with her, despite all those years apart. I also noticed issues with my erections, which worried me.”

Ghazwan consulted a specialist doctor and explained his symptoms. After clinical examination and tests, the doctor told him he had varicocele in his left testicle. When Ghazwan asked about the cause, the doctor informed him that prolonged standing during his detention and the blows to his genitals had caused the issue.

His distress worsened when the doctor told him that the problem had progressed due to the delayed treatment and that it would make it difficult for him to father more children.

Ghazwan’s wife, who was with him in the clinic, was more shocked than him. She was eager to have another child to be a sibling to their daughter. After three months, the disagreements between Ghazwan and his wife intensified since the treatment he used had no effect; he remained sexually weak and cold and faced infertility, as he said.

Ghazwan’s wife asked for a divorce, left the house with her daughter, and moved to live with her parents, promising to let him see his child every week.

“You have no chance with us”

A year after Ghazwan’s separation from his wife, he asked his aunt to find him a wife, especially since he had no parents. His father was killed in an airstrike by the regime on Ariha in Idlib’s countryside while visiting a relative, and his mother died of a heart attack.

“Umm Subhi,” Ghazwan’s aunt, found a girl for him to propose to, and they went together to meet her. According to tradition, Ghazwan introduced himself, his work, and his family. During the conversation, he told the girl’s father that he had been detained for seven years and that he had a sexual problem due to torture during his detention, causing him sexual dysfunction and infertility.

Ghazwan told Enab Baladi, “When the girl’s father heard the phrase sexual dysfunction, his expression changed. He then said to me (you have no chance with us),” without entering the room to ask his daughter or even allowing her to serve coffee as per custom.

Ghazwan added, “My aunt and I left with broken hearts. On our way back, she asked why I didn’t hide my sexual dysfunction problem,” but he justified it by saying it couldn’t be hidden, “even if I lied to the girl and married her, I would have deceived her, and she would likely ask for a divorce shortly.”

Ghazwan proposed to five girls, all of whom rejected him. Four immediately declined, while the fifth agreed but broke off the engagement after two months under her mother’s pressure.

Risks of psychological torture

Unlike Ghazwan, who suffered sexual dysfunction due to physical torture in detention, some former detainees developed sexual issues without direct blows to their genital parts. This happened to Osama, who was detained for three years and found he had lost sexual desire upon his release.

Osama (27 years old), a Syrian refugee in Istanbul, was detained in the 215 branch in Damascus due to a security report written against him at university. During his detention, he lived through severe psychological conditions, spending a year in solitary confinement. “The psychological torture I endured was many times worse than physical torture,” he said.

Osama added to Enab Baladi, “The hardest feeling is when the jailer comes and tells you (get ready in 15 minutes),” that short waiting period was the hardest psychological torment the jailers applied to detainees, “other than torturing detainees next to my cell door. I heard that some detainees had their genital parts cut off.”

“Yes, I was released, but the detention never left me,” said Osama. He constantly hears the screams of tortured detainees in his nightmares, and he can’t forget the scenes of “the jailer gouging out a detainee’s eyes with a screwdriver and drilling his neck and chest with an electric drill, then being asked by the investigator beside him: (is he dead yet?)”

What worsened matters was Osama’s loss of sexual desire, feeling low libido and erectile dysfunction due to psychological torture, leading him to avoid marriage.

Psychological consultant Basel Namera said that when a detainee discovers he has sexual issues, he suffers a psychological shock, believing he has lost his manhood, and feels ashamed. This leads to depression, frustration, and loss of self-confidence, making him feel his life is meaningless, especially if deprived of marriage, driving him to contemplate suicide.

Namera noted that psychological therapy alongside physical treatment is essential since psychological sessions help alleviate the effects of psychological torture experienced by detainees and rebuild their personality. Psychological treatment for sexual dysfunction is difficult and may require a long time. However, if conducted following well-studied and scientifically precise programs, it yields good results, helping the person overcome his sexual problems, as Namera told Enab Baladi.

Four sexual problems due to detention

Urologist specialist Dr. Jaber Kiyali spoke to Enab Baladi about the causes of sexual problems affecting young men who were detained in Assad’s prisons.

Kiyali explained four common sexual problems among detainees:

Sexual dysfunction: This is the inability to have a complete sexual relationship due to a lack of sexual desire or complete erectile dysfunction. It also includes weak sperm, causing infertility.

Sexual weakness: The inability to maintain an erection. The person desires a sexual relationship but cannot complete it.

Low libido: The absence or deficiency of sexual desire, leading to no inclination towards intimate relationships.

Varicocele: This causes swelling and pain in the testicle, potentially leading to erectile dysfunction and infertility in advanced stages.

Dr. Kiyali pointed out that torture in detention can cause these sexual problems for several reasons, primarily direct blows to the penis or testicles. This can lower testosterone levels due to reduced blood flow to the penis or testicles, causing decreased libido, erectile difficulties, and reduced semen production.

Kiyali added that detainees’ lifestyle changes, unhealthy environments, prolonged standing, and chronic infections from moisture and extreme cold all contribute to sexual problems. Additionally, the psychological state of the detainee is a crucial factor leading to sexual problems.

Four years have passed since Ghazwan’s release, but the suffering continues. The sexual injury he endured distanced him from his wife and child and deprived him of remarrying. What worsened Ghazwan’s misery was being caught between two fires: hiding his sexual dysfunction from a potential bride would deceive her, but being honest would likely lead to rejection, as it happened before.