21/01/2014 14:25
Syria accused of torture and 11,000 executions
There is clear evidence that Syria has systematically tortured and executed about 11,000 detainees since the start of the uprising, a report by three former war crimes prosecutors says, the BBC reports.
The investigators examined thousands of images of dead prisoners reportedly smuggled out of Syria by a defector.
One of the authors told the BBC there was evidence of government involvement. Damascus has denied claims of abuse.
In its annual report, released on Tuesday, Human Rights Watch accuses Russia and China of allowing abuses to take place by blocking action through the UN. It also accuses pro-opposition forces of human rights abuses including torture and extrajudicial killings.
The Geneva II peace talks, it says, "shouldn't become the latest excuse to avoid action to protect Syrian civilians."
The report was commissioned by Qatar, which supports Syrian rebels. It is based on the evidence of a defected military police photographer, referred to only as Caesar, who along with others reportedly smuggled about 55,000 digital images of some 11,000 dead detainees out of Syria.
He told investigators his job had been to take photographs of corpses, both to allow a death certificate to be produced and to confirm that execution orders had been carried out.
"There could be as many as 50 bodies a day to photograph which require 15 to 30 minutes of work per corpse," he is quoted as saying.
He did not claim to have witnessed killings or torture himself, which the investigators said gave weight to his testimony.