Amnesty Accuses Syria of Crimes against Humanity, Urges International Action
Syria is committing crimes against humanity as part of state policy to exact revenge against communities suspected of supporting rebels, Amnesty International said in a report released Wednesday.
The London-based rights group called for an international response after claiming it had fresh evidence that victims, including children, had been dragged from their homes and shot dead by soldiers, who in some cases then set the remains on fire.
"This disturbing new evidence of an organized pattern of grave abuses highlights the pressing need for decisive international action," said Amnesty's Donatella Rovera on release of the 70-page report entitled Deadly Reprisals.
The charity interviewed people in 23 towns and villages across Syria and concluded that Syrian government forces and militias were guilty of "grave human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law amounting to crimes against humanity and war crimes."
Reporting on the revolt which broke out in March last year, Amnesty described how soldiers and shabiha militias burned down homes and properties and fired indiscriminately into residential areas, killing and injuring civilian bystanders.
"Everywhere I went, I met distraught residents who asked why the world is standing by and doing nothing," said Rovera.
The report also accused the regime of routinely torturing those who were arrested, including the sick and elderly.
In the report, Amnesty called on the United Nations Security Council to refer the case to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and to impose an arms embargo on Syria.
The allegations came as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that more than 14,400 people have been killed in Syria in the 15-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, including 2,302 in the past month alone.
"There have been 14,476 people killed since March 2011, among them 10,117 civilians, 3,552 soldiers and 807 army defectors," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Observatory, told AFP.
Source: Agence France Presse
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