The Syrian Network for Human Rights said that as many as 14,244 people have been killed under torture in Syria since March 2011, the overwhelming majority of whom were killed at the hands of the Assad regime forces. The Network said that the Assad regime used torture as a tool to impose its authority and suppress the demonstrators by arbitrarily arresting and torturing them to death.
In a new report, the monitoring group said that the victims included 59 women and 127 children. It noted that the Assad regime is responsible for 98.9% of the arrests and torture against detainees, adding that it has compiled a list of the names of 121,829 people who have been detained and forcibly disappeared since 2011.
The Assad regime systematically violated the constitution it adopted in 2012 and Article 931 of the Syrian Penal Code, which prohibits torture and human rights violations, the Network said. It added that the Assad regime is using torture, detention and torture to suppress the popular uprising.
According to rights activists, the methods of torture being used by the Assad regime against detainees are of a purely “sectarian nature,” amounting to a crime against humanity and a war crime punishable by international law.
The Syrian Coalition earlier condemned the Assad regime’s crimes, calling on the United Nations to conduct serious investigation into these violations and crimes and refer the perpetrators to the International Criminal Court.
The Coalition expressed deep concern about the fate of those who are still detained in the Assad regime’s prisons, warning of further human losses and crimes against humanity. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
