Latest news with #Shadi
Business Wire
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
W. R. Berkley Corporation Names Shadi Albert President of Vela Insurance Services
GREENWICH, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) today announced the appointment of Shadi Albert as president of Vela Insurance Services. He succeeds Arthur G. Davis, who will assume the role of chairman of the business. The appointments are effective immediately. W. Robert Berkley, Jr., president and chief executive officer of W. R. Berkley Corporation, commented on the appointments, 'We thank Art for his service and are grateful that he will assist in facilitating a smooth transition. We are excited for Shadi to take on this new role. His proven leadership and depth of experience will complement the expertise of Vela's talented team in delivering exceptional service to its brokers and clients. We are fortunate to have Shadi leading Vela going forward.' Mr. Albert joined Berkley as president of Berkley Luxury Group in 2023, after serving as the executive vice president of strategy and business development in a key division at another large U.S. insurance group. He has a track record of sustained strong performance and positioning operations for profitable growth. Mr. Davis joined Vela in 2018 as senior vice president and chief underwriting officer and has served as its president since 2019. As chairman, he will support the Vela team through the transition. Vela Insurance Services provides specialized Excess and Surplus Lines Casualty and Professional Liability insurance solutions in four market segments. The business offers national service and local knowledge to an exclusive wholesale broker network and the businesses they serve. For further info about products and services available from Vela Insurance Services, please visit Founded in 1967, W. R. Berkley Corporation is an insurance holding company that is among the largest commercial lines writers in the United States and operates worldwide in two segments of the property casualty insurance business: Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. For further information about W. R. Berkley Corporation, please visit
Daily Mirror
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Inside 'human slaughter house' prisons with 40-degree heat and executions
Warning: Distressing content. The notoriety of Bashar Al-Assad's 'human slaughterhouse' prisons have been well-documented, where thousands died or vanished after being imprisoned under his repressive regime in Syria Thousands suffered or disappeared after being incarcerated in Bashar Al-Assad's infamous "human slaughterhouse" prisons before his oppressive regime in Syria was overthrown. The daily horror for those trapped in Assad's most notorious detention centre included execution parties, scattered corpses and brutalised guards who took pleasure in their cruelty, resulting in the death of an estimated 13,000 people. Inmates were subjected to savage conditions, crammed so tightly together that they would descend into madness due to oxygen deprivation, while being fed like beasts from pails. At the notorious Saydnaya Prison, one guard, Hussam, confessed to BBC Two's documentary Surviving Syria's Prisons: "When the prisoners heard my name, they would tremble. I beat them with all my strength. I showed them no mercy at all." Following the fall of Assad's regime in 2024, people uncovered rooms filled with documents and photographs of detainees, some burnt in a vain effort to hide the heinous acts perpetrated there. Heartbreaking footage reveals families frantically searching through the debris for clues of their lost loved ones, the Express reports. After seizing control in 2000, Assad ruled Syria with a bloodstained iron fist, his prisons a cornerstone of the terror underpinning his two-decade-long dictatorship. The Arab Spring in 2011 sparked hopes for better human rights with protests in Tunisia, but they were ruthlessly extinguished in Damascus, dragging Syria into a devastating civil conflict. Thousands were locked up, including Shadi, vanishing into secret cells where they endured horrific torture until confessions were wrung out of them, often completely fabricated. On the second occasion, Shadi and his brother were seized and dragged to the notorious Air Force Intelligence branch in Harasta. At this hellish facility, the then second-in-command, Colonel Zain, chillingly revealed: "The place I worked in was very famous for its bloody practices and the number of detainees held there. We would pack 400 detainees in a room that was eight by ten metres. "You wouldn't set eyes on the floor when you entered; bodies of detainees blanketed it. The screams emanating from the interrogation room situated directly below my office were no secret. It was common knowledge how we conducted our interrogations. The temperature was around 40 degrees, because it was so crowded. We saw strange cases of disease amongst prisoners, I think, due to oxygen deficiency because of overcrowding. These psychotic episodes soon turned into physical symptoms." Inmates faced a bleak changing room where they were stripped before being consigned to solitary confinement for extended periods. Shadi, leaning against the wall, recounted the excruciating hours spent in torturous stances. "They'd bring a cable and suspend us like this. This is the 'Ghost Method'. They'd pull us up and we'd be on our toes - you'd last 30 minutes then you'd pass out." He revealed that he and his brother were shackled and subjected to brutal torture via ceiling pipes, saying, "We were taken there and hung by our handcuffs from the pipes. It was unbearable - for almost 72 hours, three days, in the same position, without food or drink." Hadi, recounting their ordeal, said, "We were tortured for hours, and stopped keeping track of time," and noted that any show of pain only intensified the punishment: "If someone cried during a beating, the beating would get worse." Amnesty International has reported that an estimated 13,000 prisoners may have been executed in the civil war's initial four years alone. Hussam, once a military policeman, admitted, "Our superiors would say, 'Torture them, don't let them sleep at night. Throw them a party... put them in a grave if you want to, bury them alive'. "When they'd call me to go and torture them, the prisoners would go back to their cells bloody and exhausted. On Wednesday mornings, we'd have an 'execution party'. Our role during executions was to place the rope on the prisoner - only an officer could push the chair." The final words of one victim continued to haunt Hussam: "One time, the chair was pushed, but after 22 minutes he didn't die. So I grabbed him and pulled him downwards, so another guard who was bigger and stronger said, 'go I will do it.' Before he died he said one thing: 'I'm going to tell God what you did'." Kamal, an army nurse, described the horrific condition of the victims: "Most of the bodies suffered acute weight loss, resembling a skeleton." Elaborated on the widespread neglect and evidence of torture, the medic said: "Most of them suffered from skin lesions and rashes due to lack of hygiene - and most of them had torture marks." He revealed the cover-up within the system: "It was forbidden to record the cause of death as torture. Even those killed from gunshots were recorded as heart and respiratory failure." Mass graves became the dark answer to the overwhelming number of corpses, with at least 130 burial sites discovered across Syria, casting a bleak outlook on identifying the countless victims discarded within them.
Daily Mirror
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
'Slaughter house' prison with bodies strewn across floor and execution parties
WARNING DISTRESSING DETAILS: Bashar Al-Assad's brutal regime saw thousands die in his 'human slaughterhouse' prisons - with some guards getting so carried away they threw execution parties Before Bashar Al-Assad's regime was toppled, thousands perished or disappeared after being sent to his notorious "human slaughterhouse" jails. Prisoners in one of Assad's infamous institutions faced gruesome realities, where execution parties and floors strewn with corpses were everyday sights. Notably, a single jail accounted for the deaths of 13,000 individuals. Incarcerated souls endured conditions so abhorrent they were often driven to madness, crammed together to the point of asphyxiation and fed as if they were less than cattle. One Saydnaya Prison guard even boasted about his fearsome reputation to a BBC Two documentary called 'Surviving Syria 's Prisons': "When the prisoners heard my name, they would tremble. I beat them with all my strength. I showed them no mercy at all." With the collapse of Assad's rule, evidence of the atrocities began to surface, including rooms littered with documents and charred pictures of detainees – efforts to obliterate proof of the horrors within those walls were clear. Amidst these chilling scenes, families were recorded desperately sifting through the debris, searching for traces of their missing relatives, reports the Mirror US. From 2000 onward, Al-Assad ran a ruthless dictatorship in Syria, marked by appalling violations of human rights. The terror spawned from his prisons served to cement his iron-fisted reign for over twenty years. The Arab Spring in 2011, inspired by calls for enhanced human rights in Tunisia, was swiftly silenced in the Syrian capital, casting the nation into a protracted civil war. Thousands were detained, including Shadi, and whisked away to clandestine sites where they endured torture until they coughed up confessions, which were frequently concocted. During his second arrest with his brother, Shadi found himself in the infamous Air Force Intelligence branch in Harasta. Colonel Zain, who was second-in-command at the time, revealed: "The place I worked in was very famous for its bloody practices and the number of detainees held there. We would pack 400 detainees in a room that was eight by ten metres. "Those who entered would walk over the bodies of the detainees - you couldn't see the floor. The interrogation room was right underneath my office. Everyone heard the screams. Everyone knew how the interrogations were conducted." Shadi said: "The temperature was around 40 degrees, because it was so crowded. We saw strange cases of disease amongst prisoners, I think, due to oxygen deficiency because of overcrowding. These psychotic episodes soon turned into physical symptoms." Inmates were stripped in a changing room before some were thrown into solitary confinement cells for months or even years. Demonstrating against a wall, Shadi illustrated how he was forced to endure hours of torture. "They'd bring a cable and suspend us like this. This is the 'Ghost Method'. They'd pull us up and we'd be on our toes - you'd last 30 minutes then you'd pass out." Shadi recounted his harrowing experience of being chained up with his brother and interrogated via ceiling pipes. He revealed: "We were taken there and hung by our handcuffs from the pipes. It was unbearable - for almost 72 hours, three days, in the same position, without food or drink. "We were tortured for hours, and stopped keeping track of time," Hadi remembered. "If someone cried during a beating, the beating would get worse." Amnesty reports that as many as 13,000 inmates were executed here alone in the initial four years of the civil war. Hussam, a military policeman, said: "Our superiors would say, 'Torture them, don't let them sleep at night. Throw them a party... put them in a grave if you want to, bury them alive'. "When they'd call me to go and torture them, the prisoners would return to their cells bloody and exhausted. On Wednesday mornings, we'd have an 'execution party. Our role during executions was to place the rope on the prisoner - only an officer could push the chair. "One time, the chair was pushed, but after 22 minutes he didn't die. So I grabbed him and pulled him downwards, so another guard who was bigger and stronger said, 'go I will do it.' Before he died he said one thing: 'I'm going to tell God what you did'. "Most of the bodies suffered acute weight loss, resembling a skeleton," Kamal, an army nurse, noted. "Most of them suffered from skin lesions and rashes due to lack of hygiene - and most of them had torture marks." He revealed a harrowing fact: "It was forbidden to record the cause of death as torture. Even those killed from gunshots were recorded as heart and respiratory failure." With an overwhelming number of casualties, mass graves became a grim necessity. Investigators have since uncovered at least 130 burial sites throughout Syria, although many of those laid to rest there may never be identified.
Daily Record
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Record
Execution parties and inmates going mad with no oxygen in 'human slaughterhouse' jails
WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT: Bashar Al-Assad's regime was brutal and deadly and it's estimated that 13,000 people were executed in just one of his prisons, where there were execution parties Before Bashar Al-Assad's oppressive regime met its end, thousands had died or vanished after being dispatched to his notorious "human slaughterhouse" jails. Inmates in one Syrian prison were subjected to a horrifying existence under Assad, with execution parties and floors strewn with corpses while the guards, indoctrinated and vicious, maintained a regime of terror. One facility in particular was linked to 13,000 deaths. The conditions for detainees were beyond inhumane. Packed so tightly they suffered from oxygen deprivation that led to psychosis, and receiving their meagre food portions out of buckets. Hussam, a military policeman at Saydnaya Prison, admitted to the BBC Two documentary Surviving Syria's Prisons: "When the prisoners heard my name, they would tremble. I beat them with all my strength. I showed them no mercy at all." With Assad's rule overturned, people discovered the gruesome evidence of past horrors – files and photographs of inmates were scattered on the ground, some burnt in a failed attempt to obliterate the evidence of the atrocities carried out behind those walls. The footage shows devastated families sifting through the grim debris, searching for signs of their missing relatives, reports the Mirror US. Al-Assad's reign since 2000 marked a brutal chapter for Syria, characterised by egregious human rights abuses and prisons that reinforced the atmosphere of dread, sustaining his grip on power for more than twenty years. In 2011, the demands for improved human rights that fueled the Arab Spring in Tunisia were brutally suppressed in Damascus, thrusting Syria into a devastating civil war. Thousands were apprehended, including Shadi, and whisked away to clandestine facilities where torture was employed until they confessed—confessions that were often fabricated. On his second arrest with his brother, Shadi found himself in the infamous Air Force Intelligence branch in Harasta. Colonel Zain, who was second in command at the time, disclosed: "The place I worked in was very famous for its bloody practices and the number of detainees held there. We would pack 400 detainees in a room that was eight by ten metres." He chillingly detailed the conditions: "Those who entered would walk over the bodies of the detainees - you couldn't see the floor. The interrogation room was right underneath my office. Everyone heard the screams. Everyone knew how the interrogations were conducted." Shadi recounted the unbearable heat: "The temperature was around 40 degrees, because it was so crowded. We saw strange cases of disease amongst prisoners, I think, due to oxygen deficiency because of overcrowding. These psychotic episodes soon turned into physical symptoms." Within the facility was a changing area where inmates were forced to undress, while solitary confinement cells could incarcerate individuals for months or even years. Demonstrating against a wall, Shadi described a brutal tactic used by the jailers: "They'd bring a cable and suspend us like this. This is the 'Ghost Method'. They'd pull us up and we'd be on our toes - you'd last 30 minutes then you'd pass out." Shadi recounted his harrowing experience being imprisoned with his brother, stating: "We were taken there and hung by our handcuffs from the pipes. It was unbearable - for almost 72 hours, three days, in the same position, without food or drink." Hadi painfully remembered the torment they endured: "We were tortured for hours, and stopped keeping track of time," and added despondently, "If someone cried during a beating, the beating would get worse." Amnesty has reported that as many as 13,000 prisoners may have been executed at this site alone within the first four years of the civil conflict. Hussam, who had served as a military policeman, revealed chilling orders from his superiors: "Our superiors would say, 'Torture them, don't let them sleep at night. Throw them a party... put them in a grave if you want to, bury them alive'." He then divulged the grim routine he was part of: "When they'd call me to go and torture them, the prisoners would go back to their cells bloody and exhausted. On Wednesday mornings, we'd have an 'execution party. Our role during executions was to place the rope on the prisoner - only an officer could push the chair." Recalling one horrific event, Hussam said: "One time, the chair was pushed, but after 22 minutes he didn't die. So I grabbed him and pulled him downwards, so another guard who was bigger and stronger said, 'go I will do it.' Before he died he said one thing: 'I'm going to tell God what you did'." Kamal, an army nurse, described the appalling state of deceased inmates: "Most of the bodies suffered acute weight loss, resembling a skeleton," and detailed further, "Most of them suffered from skin lesions and rashes due to lack of hygiene - and most of them had torture marks." He disclosed: "It was forbidden to record the cause of death as torture. Even those killed from gunshots were recorded as heart and respiratory failure." With the overwhelming number of casualties, mass graves became the grim answer. Investigators have uncovered at least 130 burial sites throughout Syria, casting doubt on the chances of identifying the countless victims interred within them.
7NEWS
18-06-2025
- General
- 7NEWS
‘Like the world has forgotten us:' Gazans fear their ongoing suffering will become invisible amid Israel-Iran conflict
The young girl sits on the dusty floor, clutching her father's shoe close to her chest as she cries and screams in anger. Bisan Qwaider is unconsolable. Her father has just been killed while trying to get food for her and her 10 hungry siblings. Bisan's father, Shadi, had left the family's tent in Mawassi, in southern Gaza, a few days earlier for Ma'an, just east of Khan Younis, the photojournalist who captured the scene of Qwaider's grief on Sunday, Khaled Sha'ath, said. Shadi knew travel to the area was dangerous: Ma'an had been under an Israeli evacuation order for some time and has come under Israeli bombardment. But, despite the risk, his children were hungry and he believed he could get some food there for them. Gaza is facing a hunger crisis. A UN-backed report published in late April warned that one in five people in Gaza were facing starvation and that the entire enclave was edging closer to famine. The situation has only worsened since then, according to the UN. Sha'ath said Qwaider was killed in an airstrike and his body was pulled from the rubble on Sunday. He is one of hundreds of people who have died while attempting to find food in Gaza in recent weeks, according to Gaza health authorities. When about the situation in Ma'an, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responded by sending through a map of Gaza with 'dangerous combat zones' highlighted in red, which included Ma'an — as well as more than half of the territory. In late May, Israel partially lifted an 11-week total blockade on Gaza, but humanitarian organisations say the aid entering now is only a tiny fraction of what is needed. 'Without immediate and massively scaled-up access to the basic means of survival, we risk a descent into famine, further chaos, and the loss of more lives,' the UN's humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said last week. The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has sparked outrage around the world, recently prompting even some of Israel's closest allies to speak up. Last week, Australia was one of 149 countries to vote in favour of an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in the war in Gaza and aid access, after the United States vetoed a similar effort in the Security Council the week before. The US, Israel and 10 others voted against the resolution, while 19 countries abstained from voting. France, the United Kingdom and Canada issued a rare statement last month criticising Israel and threatening 'concrete steps' if the situation in Gaza does not improve. The UK paused trade negotiations with Israel and sanctioned West Bank settlers last month, and the European Union said it would review a key cooperation agreement with Israel. But as tensions continue to escalate between Israel and Iran, people in Gaza are now worried that even the limited pressure on Israel over their suffering will quickly evaporate. 'The war between Israel and Iran made people forget about us completely,' Mohammad, a Gazan who did not want to share his last name, said on Monday. 'No one is looking at us, there's no food or water or anything. 'Every day, people go to try to get food and aid, and they end up being carried in body bags.' Umm Mustafa, another Gazan, said the growing conflict between Iran and Israel means that their suffering has disappeared from the international news agenda. 'All the (focus) has shifted to the Israeli-Iranian war, even though the Gaza Strip has been wiped off of the map,' Mustafa said. Abu Juma'a, who lives in Gaza City, said that while there were 'some voices calling and standing in solidarity with Gaza and calling for humanitarian aid to be let in, the Israeli-Iranian war meant there is no one calling for the food and water to be provided in Gaza.' One in 40 dead More than 55,300 people have been killed and more than 128,700 injured in Gaza since October 7, 2023, according to health authorities there. The numbers are staggering: The death toll represents some 2.5 per cent of the entire Gaza population, meaning that out of every 40 Palestinians living in Gaza before the war, one is now dead. A peer-reviewed study published earlier this year in The Lancet journal, said that the number of people killed in Gaza is significantly higher than the figure reported by authorities in the enclave. CNN cannot independently verify those claims and Israel has barred international journalists from travelling to Gaza independently since October 7. And the deadly hunger crisis is worsening. The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday that people are struggling to access basic goods because of Israeli restrictions on what can be brought into the territory. Meanwhile, a US and Israeli-backed aid initiative, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) — a controversial organisation that was established amid Israeli accusations that Hamas is stealing aid in Gaza and profiting off its sale — is struggling to fulfil the task. The organisation has been criticised by multiple international aid agencies that it isn't fit for purpose. According to Gaza health authorities, at least 300 people have been killed since the GHF opened its distribution points in late May, which are located in areas surrounded by active combat zones. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said last week that Israeli authorities have allowed only a select number of UN agencies and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to resume the delivery of aid into Gaza after partially lifting the blockade and that 'only very limited amounts of certain food items, nutrition supplies, some health supplies, and water purification items' are allowed. Other aid supplies such as shelter materials, hygiene products and medical equipment are still being blocked by Israel, according to OCHA. 'People can't find anything to eat or drink,' another Gaza resident, Abu Mohammed said. 'The price of a bag of flour is now 300 to 500 times more expensive than before … it does feel like the world has forgotten us.' For young Bisan Qwaider, the only thing from her father she could get a hold of was his shoe. As she screamed for her father, she looked to the sky and shouted a message for those she believed were responsible for his death. 'May God hold you accountable,' she said.
