How tens of thousands of Syrians have 'disappeared'

What Raneem Matouq remembers most vividly are the screams.

Two years after her father, human rights lawyer Khalil Matouq, suffered the same fate, Raneem was kidnapped by Syrian authorities in 2014. She was released after two months in detention, while her father remains missing to this day.

For Raneem, the worst part is knowing what conditions her father faces in Syria's prisons.

"Our cell was in this corridor, and usually they take the men and children to ask them questions, and when they torture them, we would hear the screaming all the time," Raneem told Al Jazeera, noting she was beaten by guards and, through a window in her cell door, saw dead bodies in the corridors. In one of the most horrific methods of torture, Raneem said, prisoners were strapped to a chair, the back of which was pulled downwards, snapping the spine.

When she was ultimately released under a presidential amnesty, Raneem said, it was cold comfort. Her father's continuing absence has left a hole in the family.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/tens-thousands-syrians-disappeared-151103151934501.html