July 16, 2024 Full Show

This episode featured an interview with Lauren Aarons. She is one of the authors of a recently released report from Amnesty International entitled Aftermath: Injustice, Torture and Death in Detention in North-East Syria (available here: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/MDE24/7752/2024/en/ ). The report talks about the conditions in the camps and prisons where Islamic State fighters, affiliates, and anyone still living in Baghouz when it fell to the Syrian Democratic Forces in 2019 are all held. The report talks about intense conditions of torture, death, and inhumane treatment of children and while we avoid talking about most of the horrific specific instances detailed in the report, we want to put a content warning on this interview. We talk about distressing situations facing children, and some of the specifics of torture that people in the camps and prisons told the Amnesty International researchers. We also talk about the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, the regions where all the camps and detention facilities are based, as well as the United States led coalition and it's role in the camps and detention facilities.