There is as much evidence against Assad as there was against the Nazis

On arrival at Assad’s prisons Khalifa describes a “welcoming party”—a beating—that some detainees do not survive. The cells are overcrowded and squalid. Access to water and basic hygiene needs is severely restricted. Food is minimal and sometimes withheld altogether. When food is served it is dumped on the floor and prisoners whipped as they try to retrieve it; if they stumble they might be beaten to death.

When prisoners are allowed into the yard, they are assaulted and forced to assault each other, sometimes sexually. All of this is accompanied by verbal degradation at all opportunities. The humiliation and dehumanisation is total, reinforcing to prisoners how cheaply the authorities view life and how close death is at all times.

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Just in case...

Sometimes it becomes necessary to end a relationship with an inmate pen pal. This could be because the inmate becomes harassing, sending you excessive mail when you've asked him or her to stop, starts making threats either directly or indirectly or seeks romantic involvement after you've already declined...

How to End Your Pen Pal Relationship with an Inmate

A long time ago, I knew a man who went to prison. He was the husband of a business associate of my father. While there, he gave my address to another inmate so that man could write to me. I couldn't believe it and I was furious! Had anything come of it, I would have needed this advice.

Be prepared.

Is this a great country or what?

So you're a sick senior citizen and the government says there is no nursing home available for you, what do you do?

Our plan gives anyone 65 years or older a gun and 4 bullets. You are allowed to shoot four Congressmen.

Of course, this means you will be sent to prison where you will get three meals a day, a roof over your head, central heating, air conditioning and all the health care you need! Need new teeth? No problem. Need glasses? That's great. Need a new hip, knees, kidney, lungs or heart? They're all covered. And, as an added bonus, your kids can come and visit you as often as they do now.

And who will be paying for all of this? It's the same government that just told you that you they cannot afford for you to go into a home.

Plus, because you are a prisoner, you don't have to pay any income taxes anymore!

Background Report: North Korean Prisons

According to the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, there exists a vast network of structured institutions for punishment in North Korea including forced-labor colonies, camps, prisons, and short term detention facilities along the North Korea-China border. Prisoners are brutally treated in these institutions with testimonies from North Korean defectors describing the application of torture techniques, hard labor, starvation, forced abortions, infanticide, families of up to three generations imprisoned, detention without judicial process, public executions, chemical and medical experimentation on prisoners, and gas chambers, resulting in thousands of deaths. Comparisons have been frequently made to the Nazi concentration camps. China Confidential

THE LETTER TO CHINA: An Open Letter to China's Paramount Leader: Please Persuade North Korea to Let Our People Go