GRUESOME photographs smuggled out of Syria show evidence of torture and
execution by the regime on an “industrial scale”, leading war
crimes prosecutors said today.
The shocking images show the corpses of 11,000 detainees killed by President
Assad’s forces since the uprising began in March 2011.
Many bodies are emaciated or bear marks of extreme torture such as
strangulation, beatings and electrocution. Some had eyes gouged out.
The evidence – which has been investigated by a panel of top lawyers and
forensics experts – has prompted fresh calls for officials in the Assad
regime to face war crimes charges.
Tens of thousands of pictures were smuggled out on memory sticks by a former
military policeman who is now working with opposition groups from outside
the country.
The defector – codenamed Caesar for his safety – was quizzed this month by
three former war crimes prosecutors who described him as “a truthful
and credible witness”.
Caesar said he had been a crime scene snapper before the uprising, but was
then set to work photographing up to 50 corpses a day after they had been
brought from detention centres to a military hospital.
Photographs were needed so authorities could produce death certificates –
hiding the true cause of death from the families of the missing men, who
were told they died from a “heart attack” or “breathing
problems”.
One photo shows a bearded man with strangulation marks around his throat
apparently inflicted with a ridged rubber band similar to a car engine’s cam
belt.
Forensics experts examined a sample of the 55,000 photographs taken by Caesar
or his colleagues.
The report says: “Overall there was evidence that a significant number of
the deceased were emaciated and a significant minority had been bound and/or
beaten with rod-like objects.”
Just one in 20 bodies show no signs of injury or starvation.
The inquiry team said it was satisfied there was “clear evidence…of
systematic torture and killing of detained persons by the agents of the
Syrian government.
“It would support findings of crimes against humanity and could also
support findings of war crimes against the current Syrian regime.”
Report author Sir Desmond de Silva QC, former chief prosecutor of the special
court for Sierra Leone, told The Guardian that Caesar’s evidence “documented
industrial scale killing”.
He added: “This is a smoking gun of a kind we didn’t have before. It
makes a very strong case indeed.”
Another member of the inquiry panel, Professor David Crane, said: “Now we
have direct evidence of what was happening to people who had disappeared.
“This is the first provable, direct evidence of what has happened to at
least 11,000 human beings who have been tortured and executed and apparently
disposed of.
“We have pictures, with numbers that marry up with papers with identical
numbers – official government documents. We have the person who took those
pictures. That’s beyond-reasonable-doubt-type evidence.”
The report was commissioned by a London law firm on behalf of the government
of Qatar, which supports rebel groups in Syria.