'I raped and killed for Assad for $450 per month'

A Shabiha militiaman loyal to Assad reveals how he killed and raped for $450 per month (300 British pounds).

For the equivalent of £300 a month, plus a £100 bonus for every victim, he had become a hired killer for President Bashar al Assad, he said. What was more, he had enjoyed every minute of it.

"We love Assad because the government gave us all the power - if I wanted to take something, kill a person or rape a girl I could," he said, in a calm, quiet voice devoid of remorse.

"The government gave me 30,000 Syrian pounds per month and an extra 10,000 per person that I captured or killed. I raped one girl, and my commander raped many times. It was normal."

Mohammed - not his real name - spoke to me last week at a secret rebel detention centre in Idlib Province in northern Syria, where he had been captured a few weeks earlier during a shoot-out with units from the Free Syrian Army.

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But Mohammed cut a very different figure to the 25 others with whom he shared his underground chamber. While they were all gaunt, bewildered-looking Syrian Army conscripts, he was a member of the Shabiha, the feared pro-Assad civilian militia for whom fighting is a matter of both business and pleasure, and who are blamed for many of the conflict's worst massacres.

Like many of their ilk, he had the appearance of an Arab Arnold Schwarzenegger, with huge biceps, honed during endless gym sessions, bulging under a tight white T-shirt.

That same intimidating physique made him easily identifiable as a member of the Shabiha when caught, and has now effectively sealed his fate. While ordinary Syrian army conscripts may be treated as prisoners of war, Shabiha are often executed - especially ones like Mohammed, whose personal notoriety as a thug had spread throughout the province.

But if you think he did it out of loyalty to Assad... well... think again.

What was his motivation, I asked? He shrugged. He was not particularly interested in defending President Assad's regime, he said, nor the Syrian leader's minority Alawite sect, from which most Shabiha are drawn. "It wasn't for Bashar. I didn't care about Bashar al Assad. All I cared about was that I got the power."

It sounds like at some point, the Shabiha may turn on Assad to protect their own lives. When that happens, he will be gone.

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