Syria Photographs Provide Evidence of Systematic Torture by Assad Regime

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria – A team of international war crimes prosecutors and forensic experts has issued a report stating that there is “direct evidence” of “systematic torture and killing” by the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

This image from the report purportedly shows ligature marks around the neck of a prisoner. (Courtesy of The Guardian)

Their report, based on thousands of photographs of dead bodies of alleged detainees killed in Syrian government custody, would stand up in an international criminal tribunal, the group says.

“This is a smoking gun,” said David Crane, the first chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone and one of the report’s authors. “Any prosecutor would like this kind of evidence — the photos and the process. This is direct evidence of the regime’s killing machine.”

The bodies in the photos showed signs of starvation, brutal beatings, strangulation, and other forms of torture and killing, according to the report.

A Syrian government defector codenamed “Caesar” provided testimony and 27,000 photographs as evidence used in the report; in all 55,000 such images were brought out of the country. According to the report, Caesar worked as photographer in the military police. Once the war started, he was required to document “killed detainees.”

A complex numbering system was also used to catalog the corpses. The system allowed intelligence agencies to identify the corpses and then later to provide false documentation that the person had died in a hospital. According to the report the system may have also served other purposes such as documenting each person’s death without involving family members, proving that orders had been followed, or perhaps it was simply the way it had always been done.

The fact that all the bodies were photographed, the report’s authors say, strongly suggests that “the killings were systematic, ordered, and directed from above.”

The report was authored by Crane, Sir Desmond de Silva, former chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and Professor Sir Geoffrey Nice, former lead prosecutor against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

“Ultimately, the validity of our conclusions turn on the integrity of the people involved,” de Silva said. “We, the team, were very conscious of the fact there are competing interests in the Syrian crisis — both national and international. We were very conscious of that.”

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Why Syria’s Assad enters Geneva talks in a position of strength – 23 January 2013

CNN – Gruesome Syria photos may prove torture by Assad – 22 January 2013

Reuters – Dooming the Syria talks before they begin – 22 January 2013

BBC – Syria photos may prove claims of torture – 21 January 2013

Guardian – Syria regime document trove shows evidence of ‘industrial scale’ killing of detainees – 20 January 2013

Press Release: Prominent Russian Duma Representative Suggests Hermitage Was Behind Magnitsky’s Death

Press Release

For Immediate Distribution

 22 January 2014 – Prominent Russian Duma Member, Chair of International Affairs Committee Alexei Pushkov came out today alleging Hermitage could have been behind Magnitsky’s death, and “was to benefit” from it because Magnitsky “could have given serious information against Browder” (http://ria.ru/world/20140122/990696164.html). Pushkov made his statement on the eve of the vote by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the resolution and report called “Refusing Impunity for the Killers of Sergei Magnitsky.”

“Today’s statement by Pushkov is a clear demonstration that the Putin regime is determined to protect those who killed Sergei Magnitsky in spite ofoverwhelming evidence and the clear conclusions by the Rapporteur to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe of the Russian government’s complicity,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.

The 53-page report prepared for the Council of Europe by Swiss MP, Rapporteur Andreas Gross, details “the massive cover-up involving senior officials of the competent ministries, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Investigative Committee and even certain courts” (report is available here:http://www.assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-DocDetails-EN.asp?fileid=20084&wrqid=0&wrqref=&ref=1&lang=EN).

The report has been approved by the PACE’s Committee for Legal Affairs and Human Rights.

The resolution to be debated next week by PACE will consider the issue of sanctions in light of the ongoing impunity of those responsible for Magnitsky’s ill-treatment and killing.

For more information please contact:

Law and Order in Russia

Uganda Deports British Man for Videos on Laptop

By: Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch News Reporter

KAMPALA, Uganda – A British man who was facing charges in Uganda of possessing a gay sex video is to be deported, a court has ruled.

Bernard Randall being deported from Uganda (photo courtesy of AFP)

Bernard Randall, a 65-year-old retired man from Kent, denied a charge of trafficking obscene publications.

Uganda’s government passed the anti-gay legislation in December, punishing homosexuality with life in prison. The President blocked the bill, saying not enough members of parliament were present to ensure a fair vote.

The President can refuse a bill before parliament can force it into law without his consent.

Judge Hellen Ajio has ordered Randall deported within the next 12 hours.

An official from the prosecutor’s office said Randall was being deported because he had “kept on corrupting Uganda’s youth” and had not renewed his visa at this time.

“Lies!” reported Randall, although his lawyer said the ruling would not be appealed.

Randall’s lawyer asked for Randall to have at least five days before leaving the country.

Randall first appeared in court in Uganda in November, would have faced a possible two-year prison sentence if found guilty.

He was charged alongside his friend Albert Cheptoyek, 30, a Ugandan national with whom Randall shares a home with.

Cheptoyek denied the more serious accusation of “acts of gross indecency.”

If Cheptoyek is found guilty, he could serve a possible seven year sentence in prison.

Officials at the court said police would accompany Randall to his home and allow him to collect his personal belongings before escorting him to the airport.

The trial took place in Entebbe, just outside the capital, Kampala.

Cheptoyek told BBC that Randall was being held in the court’s cells awaiting his deportation.

BBC’s Catherine Byaruhanga said Cheptoyek still stood as the trial against both men had not officially started.

Randall was put on trial after thieves stole a laptop from his home.

On the computer was stills of Randall with another man, which were then published in the notorious homophobic tabloid newspaper Red Pepper.

Randall has come out as homosexual after the recent death of his wife of 40 years.

For more information, please visit:
BBC News – Uganda gay sex case Briton Bernard Randall to be deported – 22 January 2014
Gay Star News – Uganda to deport British man on trial for gay sex video – 22 January 2014
The Sun Daily – Uganda court orders deportation of Briton in gay sex case – 22 January 2014
Herald Sun News – Gay Briton Bernard Randall to be deported from Uganda after private pictures stolen – 22 January 2014
Google – Uganda court orders deportation of Briton in gay sex case – 22 January 2014

 

Report: Syrian Defector Provides Photographic Evidence of the Killing of 11,000 Individuals Detained in Syria

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria – A report prepared by a group of world renowned war crimes prosecutors and forensic experts documents  photographs smuggled out of Syria that provide ‘clear evidence’ of the systematic killing of 11,000 individual detainees by the Syrian regime.

Disturbing images show Syrian regime’s documentation of mass killings of detainees. (Photo courtesy of CNN International)

The authors of the report include Sir Desmond de Silva QC, former Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, the former lead Prosecutor of Former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic, and Syracuse University Professor David Crane, the Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, who indicted President Charles Taylor of Liberia and is the founder of Impunity Watch.

The United Nations and independent human rights groups have documented abuses by both the regime of Bashar al-Assad and armed rebel groups. However, experts say the evidence presented in this report is the most detained documentation of widespread and systematic abuses by either side of the conflict which has raged on for more than 34 months.

Their report is based on thousands of photographs of the bodies of detainees alleged to have been killed by the Syrian regime while in the custody of the state. These photographs provide evidence that would stand up in an international criminal tribunal, according to the report.

Professor Crane called the evidence “a smoking gun.” He added that “any prosecutor would like this kind of evidence — the photos and the process. This is direct evidence of the regime’s killing machine.”

The source, named in the report only as “Caesar” for security reasons, was a military policeman who worked with a Syrian opposition group in secret and later defected and fled the country. In a series of three sessions over the past ten days, they concluded that he was a credible and truthful source and that his account and the evidence he provided was “most compelling.” Caesar worked for the regime as a photographer in the military police. During the civil war, his main job was the documenting “killed detainees” by photographing the corpses of detainees who had been killed while in custody before a death certificate was issued.

Caesar claimed that throughout the conflict he had to photograph about 50 bodies per day. He provided nearly 27,000 photographs for the report. In total about 55,000 such images were smuggled out of Syria.

The report’s authors argue that the fact that these bodies were photographed at the state’s request strongly suggests that “the killings were systematic, ordered, and directed from above,” providing strong, documented evidence of atrocities committed by the Assad Regime. Professor Crane described the images as evidence of a “callous, industrial machine grinding its citizens,” adding that these images depict an “industrial age mass killing.”

The state may have wanted such strong documented evidence of the killing of thousands of individuals by the regime as a means of proving the death of each individual person without allowing the families and loved ones of the deceased to properly bury or even see their bodies, a violation of Islamic law. The report suggest that the documentation of these killings may have also been carried out in order to prove that the state’s “orders to execute individuals had been carried out.”

For the full report please see: Into the Credibility of Certain Evidence with Regard to Torture

For more information please see:

CNN International – EXCLUSIVE: Gruesome Syria Photos May Prove Torture by Assad Regime – 21 January 2014

The Guardian – Systematic Killing Evidence in Syria Just Tip of Iceberg – Aid Agencies – 21 January 2014

The Guardian – US Condemns ‘Horror’ of Syrian War Crimes Evidence – 21 January 2014

The Guardian – Syrian Regime Document Trove Shows Evidence of ‘Industrial Scale’ Killing of Detainees – 20 January 2014