"They pulled out my [finger] nails," tells "Hosam" a 13-year-old Syrian boy, whose name has been changed to protect him.
"They had pliers, something like a screwdriver that they used."
His testimony is just one of more than 200 interviews with former detainees and defectors conducted in Syria by Human Rights Watch since March 2011.
While most are young men, women, children and the elderly also gave their accounts.
Another torture victim anonymously tells of the “dulab”.
“The “dulab” technique – it's a car tyre. They hit and beat you. The Syrian people know the meaning of these words. There's no one these days who hasn't encountered them,” he said.
The detailed HRW report released today identifies the locations, agencies responsible, torture methods used and those in charge of 27 detention facilities run by a collection of Syrian intelligence agencies, often referred to as the "mukhabarat".
The sites are spread across the major cities of Damascus, Daraa, Homs, Idlib, Aleppo and Latakia.
Many of the former detainees corroborated evidence by way of satellite images and hand-draw maps of the interiors sites like the "Palestine Branch", one of Syria's most feared prisons.
Their descriptions of gruesome torture techniques have been detailed in sketches. Their accounts also challenge floor space requirements for prisoners mandated by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture.
Ole Solvang, Emergencies Researcher at Human Rights Watch said the actual number of detention facilities used by intelligence agencies is probably much higher
“What we have found is that torture in these detention facilities has been systematic and widespread. We've found a pattern of torture. Different detention facilities across the country used some of the same techniques in different facilities.” A spokesperson said.
“Unfortunately the Syrian government has shown no willingness to end these abuses and it's therefore high time that the international community takes action,'
“The UN security council should immediately refer the situation in Syria to the international criminal court in the Hague which is the appropriate to investigate and prosecute crimes against humanity like the ones we've described in the report,” he said.
For the young boy, the words he was told during his beating perhaps the most painful for those who wish to see change in Syria.
"Every five or ten minutes, they would open the metal window in the door and they would spit on us and say “You pigs, you want freedom? You want to bring down the regime?”
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