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Far' Falastin

Syrian jail

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ5434471 ↗
Source-derived summary

Far' Falastine (Arabic: فرع فلسطين, lit. 'Palestine Branch'), also known as Branch 235, was a prison operated by Military Intelligence Directorate of Ba'athist Syria under the charge of Brig. Gen. Kamal Hassan between 2017 and 2020, located in Damascus, notorious for accounts of torture, coercive interrogation, and deplorable conditions related by its former detainees.

The Branch was established in 1969 as the liaison between the Ba'athist Syrian regime and the various Palestinian entities permitted to operate in Syria (Fatah, as-Sa'iqa, DFLP, and PFLP). Although it has been associated with torture at least since 1990, the prison gained widespread notoriety in the wake of the September 11 attacks due to detainees suspected of ties to terrorist organizations being sent there through extraordinary renditions, primarily by the United States, as a means of outsourcing torture. The detention center is reportedly quite large, run by some 500 employees, but the majority of the reports regarding torture and abusive interrogation focus on the three underground floors.

Heads

Brig. Gen. Ahmed Aboud (1970s–Early 1980s)

Brig. Gen.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Far' Falastin” as syrian jail. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Far', Falastin and Syrian.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2017, 2020, 1969, 1990—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Far', Falastin and Syrian providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Far' Falastin”, the useful work is to connect “syrian jail” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5434471. Authority coordinates are 33.491, 36.320. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2017, 2020, 1969 and 1990.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  2. Expand the search: follow Far' Falastin primary sources, Far' Falastin archive and Far' research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Far' Falastin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.