Excerpts of a recent Amnesty International report

CONFLICT AND POST-CONFLICT SITUATIONS
Reports of torture and other ill-treatment in Syria have skyrocketed since protests in March 2011 drew a brutal response from the authorities and led to an ongoing internal conflict. The practice is used routinely against those detained for their suspected involvement in opposition activities, including peaceful activists and children. There are reports that thousands have died in custody. Amnesty International has also documented torture by armed groups.
Torture and other ill-treatment have also blighted the records of countries emerging from conflict. In Iraq , the phenomenon remains widespread in prisons and detention centres. More than 30 people are believed to have died in custody as a result of such treatment between 2010 and 2012.
In Libya the practice is rife in both state and militia-run facilities. Amnesty International has documented 23 cases of deaths under torture since the end of the 2011 conflict.

 
RESPONSES TO DISSENT, PROTESTS AND PERCEIVED THREATS TO NATIONAL SECURITY
A common feature across the Middle East and North Africa is the extent to which governments have resorted to torture and other ill-treatment to clamp down on dissent and protests or to respond to perceived threats against national security.
In Egypt, during the 2011 uprising, the security forces and army used torture as a weapon against protesters. Under army rule in March 2011, women protesters were subjected to forced “virginity tests”. The current authorities are drafting new counter¬ terrorism legislation that would, if passed, erode the existing safeguards against torture and other ill-treatment, while the practice has remained endemic.
In Iran the authorities have relied on torture and other ill-treatment as a way to obtain “confessions “which can lead to death sentences in cases ranging from repression of peaceful dissent to drug-related offences to trials of minorities. The practice is common during interrogation when detainees are generally denied access to a lawyer .
In a number of countries, the authorities have needed to respond to a genuine threat to the population posed by armed groups or individuals who have targeted civilians. However, the way in which the state conducts such operations has often been tainted by reports of torture against suspects. For example, in Jordan 11 men arrested in October 2012 for allegedly planning
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CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING PUNISHMENTS
Cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments such as stoning, flogging and amputations remain on the statute books in a number of countries in the region, notably in the Gulf, but it is in Iran and Saudi Arabia where they are principally imposed.
 
 
A PATTERN OF STATE FAILURE
The entrenched patterns of torture and other ill-treatment across the region are facilitated by the fact that security forces operate largely unchecked, the judicial system relies heavily on confessions and the judicial authorities, which generally lack independence, often fail to act when faced with reports of such treatment.
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CASE STUDY: DEATH IN CUSTODY IN IRAN
Blogger Sattar Beheshti died in the custody of Iran ‘s Cyber Police in 2012 allegedly as a result of torture. A medical examiner’s report stated that he had died from internal bleeding in his lungs, liver, kidneys and brain. An impartial and thorough investigation into his death has yet to take place.