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Syria carried out mass hangings at military prison: Amnesty

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WAR CRIMES: Amnesty said the mass executions amounted to war crimes -


Beirut: Amnesty International accused Syria’s government on Tuesday of hanging up to 13,000 people at a notorious prison over five years in a “policy of extermination,” two weeks before planned peace talks.


Titled “Human Slaughterhouse: Mass hanging and extermination at Saydnaya prison,” Amnesty’s damning report is based on interviews with 84 witnesses, including guards, detainees, and judges.


It found that at least once a week between 2011 and 2015, up to 50 people were taken out of their prison cells for arbitrary trials, beaten, then hanged “in the middle of the night and in total secrecy.”


“Throughout this process, they remain blindfolded. They do not know when or how they will die until the noose was placed around their necks,” the report said.


Most of the victims were civilians believed to be opposed to the government of President Bashar al Assad. “They kept them (hanging) there for 10 to 15 minutes,” a former judge who witnessed the executions said.


“For the young ones, their weight wouldn’t kill them. The officers’ assistants would pull them down and break their necks,” he said.


Amnesty said the mass executions amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity, but were likely still taking place.


“The upcoming Syria peace talks in Geneva cannot ignore these findings. Ending these atrocities in Syrian government prisons must be put on the agenda,” said Lynn Maalouf, deputy director for research at Amnesty’s Beirut office.


Thousands of prisoners are held at the military-run Saydnaya prison, 30 kilometres north of Damascus, one of the country’s largest detention centres.


Amnesty accused the Syrian government of carrying out a “policy of extermination” there by repeatedly torturing detainees and withholding food, water and medical care.


Prisoners were raped or forced to rape each other, and guards would feed detainees by tossing meals onto cell floors, which were often covered in dirt and blood.


A twisted set of “special rules” governed the facility: detainees were not allowed to speak and were forced to assume certain positions when guards entered their cells.


One former military officer said he could hear “gurgling” as people were hanged in an execution room below.


— AFP


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