The Assad regime has killed a total of 253 athletes in Syria since the Syrian revolution erupted in march 2011, a rights group said.
In a report published on Wednesday, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said that the victims included four children and that dozens of Syrian athletes were killed under torture in the prisons of the Assad regime.
The Network pointed out that five more athletes were killed by the ISIS extremist group, three by Fatah al-Sham Front, one by the Russian forces, and one under torture in the prisons of the militias of the Democratic Union Party (PYD).
According to the report, at least 117 athletes were injured. The Assad regime arrested some 447 athletes, including eight children and five women, 183 of whom are still forcibly disappeared. ISIS detained 16 athletes, of whom 3 are forcibly disappeared.
The Network recorded 32 violations against sports facilities, including 27 by regime forces and one by their Russian allies.
The report said that Fatah al-Sham Front detained 6 athletes, while the PYD militias detained 9 athletes for forced recruitment, including a child.
The General Commission for Sport and Youth in Syria, which runs dozens of sports activities, called for the release of athletes and those who were arbitrarily detained. It also called for the referral of these crimes to international courts. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)
