Syria 'Tortures, Deports' Palestinian Writer to Jordan

Prominent Palestinian writer Salameh Kaileh said on Thursday the Syrian authorities deported him this week to Jordan after three weeks of detention and torture over his anti-regime writings.

"Syrian intelligence raided my house and arrested me on April 23. I was suddenly deported to Jordan on Monday after a three-week detention and torture," Kaileh told Agence France Presse in Amman.

"They gave me no reason for their decision, but I know it was because I have written articles against the regime and about the revolt" that broke out 15 months ago against the regime of President Bashar Assad.

Kaileh, 57, who holds a Jordanian passport, said he was hospitalized in Amman for bruises sustained during his detention.

"I was severely beaten on a daily basis. I passed out several times but this did not stop them from beating me more and more. I was prevented from using the toilet," he said.

"The interrogators kept asking in a very rude manner about leaflets under the name of Al-Yasari (The Leftist). I told them I had nothing to do with them because I write in newspapers."

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Tuesday distributed several photographs showing large bruises and burn marks on Kaileh's arms and legs.

Kaileh, born in Birzeit, West Bank, is a well-known leftist who has written books on subjects ranging from Marxism to Arab nationalism. He was imprisoned by the Syrian government in the 1990s for eight years.

According to the Observatory, more than 12,000 people, the majority of them civilians, have died since the uprising began on March 15, 2011, and that around 25,000 are in detention.

Human rights organizations have denounced the "systematic torture" of detainees in Syria.

Amnesty International has said in a report based on the testimony of refugees now living in Jordan that "the extent of torture and abuse in Syria has reached a level not seen in years, and which evokes the dark era of the 1970s and 1980s."

According to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),15,999 Syrian refugees are registered in Jordan, but Amman says more than 100,000 Syrians have sought refuge in the kingdom since last year.