- PKK/PYD accused of ethnic cleansing in northern #Syria :

Syrian offshoots of the terrorist PKK group, including the PYD and its armed wing the YPG, have been accused by academics, journalists and human rights groups of carrying out ethnic cleansing of local Arabs and razing their homes in northern Syria.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency on Thursday, Kawa Azizi, a board member of Syria’s Kurdish National Council, said the PKK/PYD "kidnaps, imprisons, tortures, and kills people in the region" in the Syrian Kurdish region known as Rojava.

The PKK has been designated a terrorist organization also by the U.S., and the EU. Turkey considers the YPG and PYD as terror organizations too since they are offshoots of the PKK terror group.

More than 1,200 people, including security force personnel and civilians, have lost their lives since the PKK resumed its decades-old armed campaign in Turkey in July 2015. 

About ties between Syrian regime leader Bashar al-Assad and terror group Daesh, Azizi said during the country’s six-year civil war," Assad never fired a single bullet at Daesh terrorists.

"That shows the relationship between Assad and Daesh, proving that Assad founded Daesh and is using it for his benefit. They don’t even get into clashes by mistake or bomb each other.”

He said Assad got the upper hand in Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, Lazkiya, Tartus and some other Syrian districts "because of Daesh”.

"Assad left the Kurdish-populated regions to the PYD in his name. And all the other regions to Daesh. The opposition only holds Idlib for now," he added.

PKK/PYD 'war crimes'

In an article published Tuesday, weekly U.S. magazine The Nation claimed that starting in 2013, the YPG terror group evicted thousands of Arabs from their homes at gunpoint, and afterward blew up, torched or bulldozed their homes and villages.

The article "Have the Syrian Kurds Committed War Crimes?" -- based on a six-month investigation and interviews with nearly 80 individuals by writer Roy Gutman -- undermines the YPG’s claims to be leading "a democratic, open society" in the region.

As it continues to support the group in the field, the U.S. has said it considers the PKK/PYD terror group as "reliable partner" on the ground in Syria -- not a terrorist group -- but Gutman’s research tells a different story.

The article says that beginning in early 2014, Daesh forces in Rojava "unexpectedly" showed up with weapons, seizing territories and handing them over to the YPG terror group without a fight. This showed a “surprising pattern of seeming collaboration” between the YPG, Daesh, and the Assad regime, wrote Gutman.

"Afterward the YPG expelled the Arab residents," he wrote.

According to the article, the hostility between the YPG and Daesh terror groups "was feigned," with the YPG deserting locals who tried to defend their homes when Daesh attacked. The threats and fleeing residents paved the way for Kurds to flock to Turkey.

In the article, a defector from the PKK terror group identified as Mohar was asked if there is a YPG separate from the PKK.

"What’s the difference?" between the two, he was quoted as replying.

Although YPG representatives interviewed denied that any residents had been expelled, the article said, "Destruction and expulsions from villages took place after the YPG captured them from ISIS [Daesh] without a fight”.

Mohar also said the YPG gets orders from the PKK, and that it is the terrorist group’s ruling council and PKK terror group commanders make the decision to burn villages.

Massacres

A report published in January 2016 by the London-based Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said that since the withdrawal of Syrian regime forces in 2012, forces of the PKK/PYD have committed significant human rights violations in northern and northeastern Syria -- including "ethnic cleansing massacres".

According to the report, the PKK/PYD has sought to ethnically cleanse majority-Arab towns under its control.

Three massacres that took place in the Al-Hasakah governorate, for example, resulted in the death of 91 civilians, including 17 children and seven women, the report said.

The first massacre was committed on Nov. 21, 2013, in the town of Al-Aghbiesh, where six people -- including one child -- were killed. The second, committed three months later in the town of Tal Brak, resulted in 43 civilian deaths, including one child and four women. A third massacre took place on Sep. 13, 2014, when 42 people -- including 15 children and three women -- were killed in the towns of Al-Hajiya and Tal Khalil, it says.

Amnesty International released a report in October 2015 leveling similar accusations against the YPG concerning non-Kurdish inhabitants in areas under PKK/PYD control in northern Syria.

The report said that some YPG actions amount to war crimes and that non-Kurdish -- mostly Turkmen and Arab -- inhabitants of villages in the de facto autonomous Kurdish administration were forced out of their homes.

Future forced evacuations 'not surprising'

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Serhat Erkmen, a Middle East specialist at central Anatolia’s Ahi Evran University, said the forced evacuations of Arab residents committed by the PKK/PYD and YPG in Syria's north "have been proven by previous reports”.

"The forced migrations were done before in Tal Abyad, Manbij, and Ras al-Ayn by the YPG and PYD, who tried to justify their cause by saying they are at war with Daesh," Erkmen said.

"After these reports, it would not be surprising if the forced migrations continued," said Erkmen.

- إعادة إعمار #سوريا من الصفر تتطلّب ترليون دولار.. والصين في حالة انتظار

تُبيّن جميع الإشارات الصادرة عن البيت الأبيض أن الرئيس الأمريكي الجديد على أتم الاستعداد ليولي أمر الصراع في سوريا كاملاً إلى نظيره الروسي فلاديمير بوتين، الذي سيتمتّع بمطلق الحرية للتوصل إلى مرحلة نهائية تروق له ما دام سيقضي على تنظيم الدولة الإسلامية (ISIS)، ويعمل على تمكين الأكراد السوريين، ويطرد إيران وحزب الله من ساحة المعركة السورية.

لكن، حتى وإن فعل ذلك، سيواجه بوتين مشكلة جوهرية كبرى، وهي جمع الأموال لعملية إعادة إعمار سوريا عند انتهاء الحرب، فالبلاد في حالة فوضى وتحتاج إلى ما يقدر بنحو مليار دولار أمريكي لاستعادة سوريا وإعادة إعمارها، وهو مبلغ من الواضح أنه لا يملكه، لا سيما بعد مغامرته في سوريا التي كلفت الخزينة الروسية ما لا يقل عن ثلاثة ملايين دولار يومياً منذ عام 2015.

هذا ولن تُقدِم دول الخليج الغنية بالنفط على دفع أي مبلغ لإعادة الإعمار في حال بقاء بشار الأسد في السلطة، ولن تفعل إيران كذلك، التي تكافح في الأصل اقتصادياً وتعمل على درء مواجهة محتملة مع دونالد ترامب.

لكن يبدو أن الصين جاهزة وقادرة على دفع نصيب الأسد من عملية إعادة الإعمار _ هذا في حال أُعطيت الحوافز الاقتصادية المناسبة_ إلى جانب دول أخرى في إطار منظمة البركس (BRICS)، وهي تجمعٌ مؤلفٌ من خمسة اقتصادات ناشئة وقوية وهي (البرازيل والهند وشمال أفريقيا بالإضافة إلى روسيا والصين بالطبع).

وتضم هذه المجموعة 20 عضواً يتميزون باقتصادات سريعة النمو، مشكلة ما يزيد عن 3.6 مليار شخص _ أي أكثر من نصف سكان العالم _ مع مجموع ناتج إجمالي محلي (GDP) يصل إلى 16.6 ترليون دولار أمريكي، وهذا يساوي حوالي 22% من الناتج الإجمالي المحلي في العالم.

ويرى بوتين في هؤلاء ثروة، كما يأمل في مساعدتهم على الاستفادة من أموالهم عن طريق استثمارها في عملية إعادة البناء في سوريا، وذلك مكافأة لهم على الوقوف إلى جانبه ورفض اتباع أساليب مختلفة في التعامل مع دمشق منذ اندلاع الصراع الحالي عام 2011.

وقد بدأ البعض منهم بالفعل بالتعامل مع السوريين تجارياً، متبعين بذلك نهج الرئيس الروسي. على سبيل المثال، قررت الهند الصيف الماضي بدء مشروع محطة توليد كهرباء بتكلفة 320 مليون دولار أمريكي، بإشراف من شركة (BHEL) المحدودة، كما قررت إقامة مصنع للصلب في مدينة حماة القديمة على نهر العاصي.

ومن جانبها، ما تزال الصين ملتزمة بإيمانها الراسخ في الحل السلمي للصراع السوري، مصرة على أن إسقاط الأنظمة عن طريق التدخل الأجنبي أصبح شيئاً من الماضي، فيما يعكس الموقف الذي اتخذته عام 1999، خلال عمليات القصف التي شنها حلف شمال الأطلسي في كوسوفو وحرب حلف الناتو عام 2011 في ليبيا.

وكانت الصين قد استخدمت بالفعل حق النقض “الفيتو” في مجلس الأمن مرتين، لإحباط القرارات التي تدعمها كل من فرنسا والسعودية ضد دمشق.

وفي شهر أغسطس/ آب الماضي، قام وفد صيني بزيارة دمشق، برئاسة الأدميرال “جوان يوفي”، رئيس مكتب التعاون العسكري الدولي تحت إشراف اللجنة العسكرية المركزية التي أشرفت على القوات المسلحة التي بلغ قوامها 2.3 مليون شخص.

وقد نشرت “غلوبال تايمز”، في يومية الشعب الرائدة والتابعة للحزب الشيوعي، مقالاً ذكرت فيه أن الصين أرسلت مستشارين متخصصين وطواقم عسكرية إلى سوريا، ليقوموا بتزويد الجيش السوري ببنادق القناصة وقاذفات الصواريخ.

كما أن الصينيين قلقون للغاية من العدد المتزايد لمسلمي الإيغور الصينيين المسلحين الذين يقاتلون إلى جانب الثوار السوريين في الشمال السوري، ويودون التأكد من أن حلفاءهم في دمشق مجهزون تجهيزاً جيداً عندما يتعلق الأمر بالقضاء على المسلحين.

وقد عاد أحد هؤلاء المسلحين، وهو مقاتل تلقى تعليمه في تركيا، عاد من حلب إلى تشينانغ  في شمال غرب الصين ليُلقى القبض عليه بينما كان يخطط لسلسلة من الهجمات الإرهابية. ووفقاً للمصادر، لم تدرك الصين مدى مشاركة الإيغور في القتال في سوريا سوى بعد إرسالها عميلاً مزدوجاً إلى المناطق التي يسيطر عليها تنظيم الدولة، والذي أبلغ السلطات في بكين أن ما لا يقل عن 300 من الإيغور يقاتلون في سوريا، ولذلك، تجد أن الصين تعتزم القضاء عليهم أو تسليمهم للوطن لخضوعهم لمحاكمات بوصفهم مجرمي حروب.

وكانت دمشق قد قدمت دعماً استخباراتياً قيماً للحكومة الصينية، بالإضافة إلى الكثير من الوثائق عن المقاتلين في سوريا وعن مواقعهم.

كما أن العلاقات الثنائية بين البلدين ليست جديدة وتعود إلى عام 1956،  عندما كانت سوريا، إلى جانب مصر، أول دولة عربية تعترف بجمهورية الصين الشعبية وترسل سفيراً إلى بكين.

في عام 1988،قامت الصين ببيع صواريخ من طراز M-9 إلى سوريا، لتبدأ بعد ذلك عام 1996 ببيع التكنولوجيا العسكرية أيضاً. وفي عام 2004، كان الأسد أول رئيس سوري يقوم بزيارة دولية إلى بكين.  وفي بداية الحرب السورية، احتلت الصين مرتبة الشريك الأكبر لسوريا، قبل روسيا، بصادرات بلغت قيمتها 2.4 مليار دولار أمريكي في وسائل الاتصال والمعدات الالكترونية والمعدات الثقيلة.

وقد استثمرت الصين بكثافة في مجال النفط في سوريا، مع امتلاك شركة النفط الوطنية التي تملكها الدولة الصينية للأسهم في اثنتين من أكبر شركات النفط في سوريا عاملتين في حقل حيان. وما تزال الصفقة التي تبلغ قيمتها مليارات الدولارات لاستكشاف حقول نفط أخرى وتطويرها قائمة، إلا أنها متوقفة حالياُ لأن جميع الحقول في أيدي تنظيم الدولة الإسلامية.

علاوة على ذلك، لم تغلق السفارة الصينية التي تقع على مرمى حجر من نظيرتها الأمريكية، أبوابها منذ اندلاع الصراع القائم. وما تزال تعمل على مستوى السفراء، مع إمكانية الوصول إلى الاتفاقات الاقتصادية. كما أن الفرص في حصولها على حصة كبيرة من عملية إعادة الإعمار عالية.

حمص 10/02/2017 : شاهد لحظة القصف بصواريخ أرض_أرض على حي الوعر في حمص

- #Syria: Secret campaign of mass hangings and extermination at Saydnaya Prison :

A chilling new report by Amnesty International exposes the Syrian government’s calculated campaign of extrajudicial executions by mass hangings at Saydnaya Prison. Between 2011 and 2015, every week and often twice a week, groups of up to 50 people were taken out of their prison cells and hanged to death. In five years, as many as 13,000 people, most of them civilians believed to be opposed to the government, were hanged in secret at Saydnaya.

Human slaughterhouse: Mass hangings and extermination at Saydnaya prison, Syria also shows that the government is deliberately inflicting inhuman conditions on detainees at Saydnaya Prison through repeated torture and the systematic deprivation of food, water, medicine and medical care. The report documents how these extermination policies have killed massive numbers of detainees.

These practices, which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, are authorized at the highest levels of the Syrian government.

- #Syria : 13,000 Secretly Hanged by #Assad In Saydnaya Military Prison, Says #Amnesty

“The horrors depicted in this report reveal a hidden, monstrous campaign, authorized at the highest levels of the Syrian government, aimed at crushing any form of dissent within the Syrian population,” said Lynn Maalouf, Deputy Director for Research at Amnesty International’s regional office in Beirut.

“We demand that the Syrian authorities immediately cease extrajudicial executions and torture and inhuman treatment at Saydnaya Prison and in all other government prisons across Syria. Russia and Iran, the government’s closest allies, must press for an end to these murderous detention policies.

“The upcoming Syria peace talks in Geneva cannot ignore these findings. Ending these atrocities in Syrian government prisons must be put on the agenda. The UN must immediately carry out an independent investigation into the crimes being committed at Saydnaya and demand access for independent monitors to all places of detention.”

The report reveals a routine of mass extrajudicial executions by hanging inside Saydnaya prison that was in place between 2011 and 2015. Every week – and often twice a week – victims were hanged in groups of up to 50 people, in the middle of the night and in total secrecy. There are strong reasons to believe that this routine is still ongoing today. Large numbers of detainees have also been killed as a result of the authorities’ extermination policies, which include repeated torture and the systematic deprivation of food, water, medicine and medical care. In addition, detainees at Saydnaya Prison are forced to obey a set of sadistic and dehumanizing rules.

 The findings of the report are based on an intensive investigation, which was carried out over the course of one year, from December 2015 to December 2016. It involved first-hand interviews with 84 witnesses that included former Saydnaya guards and officials, detainees, judges and lawyers, as well as national and international experts on detention in Syria.

A previous report published in August 2016, for which Amnesty International partnered with a team of specialists at Forensic Architecture, University of Goldsmiths to create a virtual 3D reconstruction of Saydnaya prison, estimated that more than 17,000 people have died in prisons across Syria as a result of the inhuman conditions and torture since the Syrian crisis began in 2011. This figure does not include the estimated 13,000 additional deaths as a result of the extrajudicial executions exposed in this report.

The role of the Military Field Court

Not one of the detainees condemned to hang at Saydnaya Prison is given anything that resembles an actual trial. Before they are hanged, victims undergo a perfunctory, one or two-minute procedure at a so-called Military Field Court. These proceedings are so summary and arbitrary that they cannot be considered to constitute a judicial process. Testimonies from former government officials, guards, judges and detainees helped Amnesty International shape a detailed picture of the farcical procedures that lead up to the hangings.

One former judge from a Syrian military court told Amnesty International the “court” operates outside the rules of the Syrian legal system. “The judge will ask the name of the detainee and whether he committed the crime. Whether the answer is yes or no, he will be convicted… This court has no relation with the rule of law. This is not a court,” he said.

The convictions issued by this so-called court are based on false confessions extracted from detainees under torture. Detainees are not allowed access to a lawyer or given an opportunity to defend themselves – most have been subjected to enforced disappearance, held in secret and cut off from the outside world. Those who are condemned to death do not find out about their sentences until minutes before they are hanged.

Mass hangings

Hangings at Saydnaya are carried out once or twice a week, usually on Monday and Wednesday, in the middle of the night. Those whose names are called out were told they would be transferred to civilian prisons in Syria. Instead, they are moved to a cell in the basement of the prison and beaten severely. They are then transported to another prison building on the grounds of Saydnaya, where they are hanged. Throughout this process, they remain blindfolded. They do not know when or how they will die until the noose was placed around their necks.

“They kept them [hanging] there for 10 to 15 minutes. Some didn’t die because they are light. For the young ones, their weight wouldn’t kill them. The officers’ assistants would pull them down and break their necks,” said a former judge who witnessed the hangings.

Detainees held in the building in the floors above the “execution room” reported that they sometimes heard the sounds of these hangings.

“If you put your ears on the floor, you could hear the sound of a kind of gurgling. This would last around 10 minutes… We were sleeping on top of the sound of people choking to death. This was normal for me then,” said “Hamid”, a former military officer arrested in 2011.

We were sleeping on top of the sound of people choking to death

"Hamid" a former prisoner at Saydnaya 

As many as 50 people can be hanged in one night. Their bodies are taken away by the truckload to be secretly buried in mass graves. Their families are given no information about their fate.

Policy of extermination

Survivors of Saydnaya also provided spine-chilling and shocking testimonies about life inside the prison. They evoke a world carefully designed to humiliate, degrade, sicken, starve and ultimately kill those trapped inside.

These harrowing accounts have led Amnesty International to conclude that the suffering and appalling conditions at Saydnaya have been deliberately inflicted on detainees as a policy of extermination.

Many of the prisoners said they were raped or in some cases forced to rape other prisoners. Torture and beatings are used as a regular form of punishment and degradation, often leading to life-long damage, disability or even death. The cell floors are covered with blood and puss from prisoners’ wounds. The bodies of dead detainees are collected by the prison guards each morning, around 9am.

“Every day there would be two or three dead people in our wing… I remember the guard would ask how many we had. He would say, ‘Room number one – how many? Room number two – how many?’ and on and on... There was one time that… the guards came to us, room by room, and beat us on the head, chest and neck. Thirteen people from our wing died that day,” said “Nader”, a former Saydnaya detainee.

Food and water are regularly cut off. When food is delivered, it is often scattered over the cell floors by the guards, where it mixes with blood and dirt. The very few who leave Saydnaya often do so weighing half the body weight they had when they arrived.

The cold blooded killing of thousands of defenceless prisoners, along with the carefully crafted and systematic programmes of psychological and physical torture that are in place inside Saydnaya Prison cannot be allowed to continue

Lynn Maalouf, Deputy Director for Research in Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Regional Office

Saydnaya also has its own set of “special rules”. Prisoners are not allowed to make any sounds, speak or even whisper. They are forced to assume certain positions when the guards come into the cells and merely looking at the guards is punishable by death.

The international community, notably the UN Security Council, must take immediate and urgent action, to put an end to this suffering.

“A firm decision must be made by the UN Security Council. It cannot turn a blind eye to these horrible crimes and must pass a resolution demanding that the Syrian government opens up its prisons for international monitors. The UN Human Rights Council must immediately demand an independent investigation into these grave violations of international law,” said Lynn Maalouf.

“The cold blooded killing of thousands of defenceless prisoners, along with the carefully crafted and systematic programmes of psychological and physical torture that are in place inside Saydnaya Prison cannot be allowed to continue. Those responsible for these heinous crimes must be brought to justice.”

- Source : #Amnesty

https://youtu.be/DLpy-TSIhv8- #Syria : 13,000 Secretly Hanged by #Assad In Saydnaya Military Prison, Says #Amnesty

ريف دمشق 07/02/2017 : لحظة إسعاف الجرحى من قبل الدفاع المدني في عربين ج...

'Syrian grand mufti 'given power to approve thousands of executions''

There's a non-surprise. The same Grand Mufti who threatened terror attacks against the West approves mass-killings at home too.

'Syria's grand mufti, who toured Europe last year and addressed Irish MPs, has been exposed as one of three men who signed execution orders for thousands of political prisoners in a Syrian jail, a human rights investigation has said.

According to a report by #Amnesty_International, Ahmed Badreddin #Hassoun was deputised by President Bashar #Assad to approve the execution of up to 13,000 inmates in Saydnaya prisoner over the last five years.

Hassoun, the highest Islamic authority in #Syria, addressed the Irish parliament's foreign affairs committee last year after he was allowed entry into Ireland as part of a religious delegation urging the EU to reduce sanctions imposed on the Syrian government. 

His entry to Ireland came as a surprise after the mufti had previously said that he would "train suicide bombers" to launch attacks in Europe and US if the west launch air strikes on "Syria and Lebanon".

Hassoun has been a staunch supporter of the Syrian government since the start of the civil war and has been pictured on numerous occasions with #Assad.

During his visit to #Ireland, #Hassoun denied that Russia was involved in perpetrating atrocities against civilian targets during its intervention in the Syrian civil war.

Hassoun became the Grand Mufti of #Syria in 2005 after the death of Ahmed Kuftaro in 2004.

The Grand Mufti is regarded as the most senior appointed Sunni Muslim representative in Syria and involves issuing religious edicts on behalf of the Syrian government.'

 | #Insaan_Rights_Watch

- 13,000 Secretly Hanged by #Assad In Saydnaya Military Prison, Says #Amnesty

- #Amnesty_International report published today has exposed the “cold-blooded killing of thousands of defenceless prisoners” in a Syrian government jail where an estimated 13,000 people have been hanged in the past five years, and where mass hangings of up to 50 people at a time occur every week, sometimes twice a week.

The mass hangings have taken place at Saydnaya military prison near #Damascus between 2011 and 2015 - and there are clear indications that the mass hangings are ongoing.

Most of those hanged were civilians believed to have been opposed to the government, with the killings taking place in great secrecy in the middle of the night. The executions take place after one- or two-minute lawyer-less “trials” using “confessions” extracted through torture.

Survivors of Saydnaya have also provided spine-chilling and shocking testimonies about life inside the prison. They evoke a world carefully designed to humiliate, degrade, sicken, starve and ultimately kill those trapped inside. These harrowing accounts (see below) have led Amnesty to conclude that the suffering and appalling conditions at Saydnaya have been deliberately inflicted on detainees as a policy of "extermination".

Amnesty’s 48-page report - Human slaughterhouse: Mass hangings and extermination at Saydnaya prison, Syria - shows that on top of these extrajudicial executions the Syrian authorities are deliberately inflicting brutally inhuman conditions on Saydnaya detainees, with systematic torture, deprivation of food, water, medicine and medical care. The very few detainees who eventually leave Saydnaya often do so weighing half their body weight compared to the time of their arrival. Amnesty considers these practices to be part of a policy of deliberate “extermination”, with massive numbers killed as a result. Meanwhile, all detainees at Saydnaya Prison are forced to obey a set of sadistic rules, including absolute silence even when being tortured.

These practices, which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, are authorized at the highest levels of the Syrian government.

Following a year of research involving first-hand interviews with 84 witnesses (including former detainees, guards and officials), Amnesty has been able to establish that the Sadnaya hangings follow a set procedure. Carried out in the middle of night and often twice a week, usually on Mondays and Wednesdays, those whose names are called out are told they’re to be transferred to civilian prisons in Syria. Instead, they’re moved to a cell in the basement of the prison and severely beaten over the course of two to three hours (the intensity of the beatings is such that one former detainee described people "screaming like they had lost their minds"). The prisoners are then transported to another prison building (the “White Building”) on the grounds of Saydnaya, where they’re hanged in the basement. Throughout the process, they remain blindfolded. They are informed they have been sentenced to death only minutes before they're executed, and they do not know how they are about to die until a noose is placed around their necks.

A former judge who witnessed the hangings said: “They kept them [hanging] there for ten to 15 minutes. Some didn’t die because they are light. For the young ones, their weight wouldn’t kill them. The officers’ assistants would pull them down and break their necks”.

Detainees held in the building on the floors above the “execution room” have reported that they sometimes heard the sounds of the hangings. “Hamid”, a former military officer arrested in 2011, said: “If you put your ears on the floor, you could hear the sound of a kind of gurgling. This would last around ten minutes … We were sleeping on top of the sound of people choking to death. This was normal for me then.”

After execution, the prisoners’ bodies are taken away by the truckload to be secretly buried in mass graves. Their families are given no information about their fate.

Last August, another Amnesty report on Sadnaya estimated that more than 17,000 people have died in prisons across Syria as a result of inhuman conditions and torture since 2011. However, that figure does not include the estimated 13,000 additional deaths as a result of the extrajudicial executions exposed in this report.

Lynn Maalouf, Deputy Director for Research at Amnesty International’s regional office in Beirut, said:

“The horrors depicted in this report reveal a hidden, monstrous campaign, authorised at the highest levels of the Syrian government, aimed at crushing any form of dissent within the Syrian population.

“The cold-blooded killing of thousands of defenceless prisoners, along with the carefully crafted and systematic programmes of psychological and physical torture that are in place inside Saydnaya Prison cannot be allowed to continue.

“Those responsible for these heinous crimes must be brought to justice. We demand that the Syrian authorities immediately cease extrajudicial executions and torture and inhuman treatment at Saydnaya Prison and in all other government prisons across Syria. Russia and Iran, the government’s closest allies, must press for an end to these murderous detention policies.

“The upcoming Syria peace talks in Geneva cannot ignore these findings. Ending these atrocities in Syrian government prisons must be put on the agenda. The UN must immediately carry out an independent investigation into the crimes being committed at Saydnaya and demand access for independent monitors to all places of detention.”

The role of the ‘Military Field Court’

Not one of the detainees condemned to hang at Saydnaya Prison is given anything that resembles an actual trial. Before they are hanged, victims are put through a perfunctory, one- or two-minute procedure at a so-called “Military Field Court”. These proceedings are so summary and arbitrary that they don’t even constitute a judicial process. The convictions issued by this so-called court are based on false confessions extracted from detainees under torture. Detainees are not allowed access to a lawyer or given an opportunity to defend themselves - most have been subjected to enforced disappearance, held in secret and cut off from the outside world. Those who are condemned to death do not find out about their sentences until minutes before they are hanged. One former judge from told Amnesty that the “court” operates outside the rules of the Syrian legal system:

“The judge will ask the name of the detainee and whether he committed the crime. Whether the answer is yes or no, he will be convicted … This court has no relation with the rule of law. This is not a court.”

Harrowing testimonies

Harrowing accounts point to policy of extermination Many former prisoners at Saydnaya said they were raped or in some cases forced to rape other prisoners. Torture and beatings are used as a regular form of punishment and degradation, often leading to life-long damage, disability or even death. The cell floors at the prison are covered with blood and puss from prisoners’ wounds. The bodies of dead detainees are collected by the prison guards each morning, around 9am. A former Saydnaya detainee “Nader” said:

“Every day there would be two or three dead people in our wing … I remember the guard would ask how many we had. He would say ‘Room number one - how many? Room number two - how many?’ and on and on ... There was one time that … the guards came to us, room by room, and beat us on the head, chest and neck. Thirteen people from our wing died that day.”

Meanwhile, food and water are regularly cut off for prisoners. When food is delivered, it is often scattered over the cell floors by the guards, where it mixes with blood and dirt. Saydnaya also has its own set of “special rules”. Prisoners are not allowed to make any sounds, speak or even whisper. They are forced to assume certain positions when the guards come into the cells and merely looking at the guards is punishable by death.

- Source: #Amnesty