Syria abuse ‘ordered from the top’
As UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon calls on the world to act on Syria, a report accuses more than 70 army commanders and officials of ordering deadly attacks on unarmed protesters.
At a news conference in New York, the UN secretary general said the status quo in Syria – where security forces yesterday reportedly shot dead 13 civilians – “cannot go on”.
“In the name of humanity, it is time for the international community to act,” Mr Ban said.
He said he had sent a UN Human Rights Council report on President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown to the security council, which could increase pressure on it to act against Syria.
A separate report by Human Rights Watch, based on testimony from 60 army defectors, said 74 commanders and officials had “ordered, authorized, or condoned widespread killings, torture, and unlawful arrests”.
“Defectors gave us names, ranks, and positions of those who gave the orders to shoot and kill, and each and every official named in this report, up to the very highest levels of the Syrian government, should answer for their crimes against the Syrian people,” said Anna Neistat, associate director for emergencies at Human Rights Watch.
“The security council should ensure accountability by referring Syria to the International Criminal Court,” she continued.
The report went on to say that widespread and systematic abuses – including killings, arbitrary detention, and torture, as part of a state policy targeting the civilian population – amounted to crimes against humanity.
“About half the defectors Human Rights Watch interviewed said the commanders of their units or other officers also gave them direct orders to open fire at protesters or bystanders, and reassured them that they would not be held accountable. In some cases, officers themselves participated in the killings,” the report said.
The Syrian government has consistently said that the violence is the result of “armed groups” sowing unrest and attacking security forces.
The UN estimate that over 5,000 people have been killed since unrest began in March.
Syria’s Torture Machine on C4 on Monday, 11.10pm
