We’ve Never Seen Such Horror, Crimes against Humanity by
Syrian Security Forces
Please Click Here to Read and Download File
(New York) – Systematic killings and torture by Syrian
security forces in the city of Daraa since protests began there on March 18,
2011, strongly suggest that these qualify as crimes against humanity, Human Rights
Watch said in a report released today.
This 54-page report is based on more than 50 interviews with
victims and witnesses to abuses. The report focuses on violations in Daraa
governorate in Syria, where some of the worst violence took place after
protests seeking greater freedoms began in various parts of the country. The
specifics went largely unreported due to the information blockade imposed by
the Syrian authorities. Victims and witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch
described systematic killings, beatings, torture using electroshock devices,
and detention of people seeking medical care.
ISBN: 1-56432-778-7
Syria: Crimes
Against Humanity in Daraa
Killings, Torture in a Locked-Down City Under Siege
– Short Press Release
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/06/01/syria-crimes-against-humanity-daraa
June 1, 2011
Bodies of people killed by Syrian security forces during
protests in Daraa city, stored in a mobile refrigerator, May 4, 2011.
© 2011 Private
Related Materials:
“We’ve Never Seen Such Horror”
Syria: Targeted Arrests of Activists Across Country
Syria: Lift the Siege of Daraa
More Coverage:
BBC
News: Syrian unrest: Inquiry into Hamza al-Khatib’s death
More Human Rights Watch reporting on Syria
Related videos:
· Syria: Dispatches from
Daraa
For more than two months now, Syrian security forces have
been killing and torturing their own people with complete impunity. They need
to stop – and if they don’t, it is the Security Council’s responsibility to
make sure that the people responsible face justice.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights
Watch
(New York) – Systematic killings and torture by Syrian
security forces in the city of Daraa since protests began there on March 18,
2011, strongly suggest that these qualify as crimes against humanity, Human Rights
Watch said in a report released today.
The 54-page report, "‘We’ve Never Seen Such
Horror’: Crimes against Humanity in Daraa," is based on more than 50
interviews with victims and witnesses to abuses. The report focuses on
violations in Daraa governorate, where some of the worst violence took place
after protests seeking greater freedoms began in various parts of the country.
The specifics went largely unreported due to the information blockade imposed
by the Syrian authorities. Victims and witnesses interviewed by Human Rights
Watch described systematic killings, beatings, torture using electroshock
devices, and detention of people seeking medical care.
"For more than two months now, Syrian security forces
have been killing and torturing their own people with complete impunity,"
said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "They
need to stop – and if they don’t, it is the Security Council’s responsibility
to make sure that the people responsible face justice."
The Syrian government should take immediate steps to halt
the excessive use of lethal force by security forces, Human Rights Watch said.
The United Nations Security Council should impose sanctions and press Syria for
accountability and, if it doesn’t respond adequately, refer Syria to the
International Criminal Court.
The protests first broke out in Daraa in response to the
detention and torture of 15 children accused of painting graffiti slogans
calling for the government’s downfall. In response and since then, security
forces have repeatedly and systematically opened fire on overwhelmingly
peaceful demonstrators. The security forces have killed at least 418 people in
the Daraa governorate alone, and more than 887 across Syria, according to local
activists who have been maintaining a list of those killed. Exact numbers are
impossible to verify.
Witnesses from Daraa interviewed by Human Rights Watch
provided consistent accounts of security forces using lethal force against
protesters and bystanders, in most cases without advance warning or any effort
to disperse the protesters by nonviolent means. Members of various branches of
the mukhabarat (security services) and numerous snipers positioned on
rooftops deliberately targeted the protesters, and many of the victims had
lethal head, neck, and chest wounds. Human Rights Watch documented a number of
cases in which security forces participating in the operations against
protesters in Daraa and other cities had received "shoot-to-kill"
orders from their commanders.
Some of the deadliest incidents Human Rights Watch
documented include:
- An
attack on al-Omari mosque, which served as a rallying point for protesters
and a makeshift hospital for the wounded protesters, and attacks on
ensuing protests from March 23 to 25, killing more than 30 protesters; - Attacks
on demonstrators during two protests on April 8, resulting in at least 25
deaths; - Attacks
during a protest and a funeral procession in the town of Izraa on April 22
and 23, resulting in at least 34 deaths; - Killings
during the blockade of Daraa and neighboring villages beginning on April
25, and during an effort by residents of neighboring towns to break the
siege on April 29, which left up to 200 dead.
Nine witnesses from the towns of Tafas, Tseel, and Sahem
al-Golan described to Human Rights Watch one of these attacks which happened on
April 29, when thousands or people from towns surrounding Daraa attempted to
break the blockade on the city. Witnesses said that the security forces stopped
the protesters who were trying to approach Daraa at a checkpoint near the
Western entrance of Daraa city. One of the witnesses from the town of Tseel who
participated in the protest said:
"We stopped there, waiting for more people to arrive.
We held olive branches, and posters saying we want to bring food and water to
Daraa. We had canisters with water and food parcels with us. Eventually
thousands of people gathered on the road – the crowd stretched for some six
kilometers.
"Then we started moving closer to the checkpoint. We
shouted ‘peaceful, peaceful,’ and in response they opened fire. Security forces
were everywhere, in the fields nearby, on a water tank behind the checkpoint,
on the roof of a nearby factory, and in the trees, and the fire came from all
sides. People started running, falling, trying to carry the wounded away. Nine
people from Tseel were wounded there and one of them died."
Another witness, from Tafas, said:
"There was no warning, no firing in the air. It was
simply an ambush. There was gunfire from all sides, from automatic guns.
Security forces were positioned in the fields along the road, and on the roofs
of the buildings. They were deliberately targeting people. Most injuries were
in the head and chest.
"Two men from Tafas were killed there: 22-year-old
Muhammad Aiman Baradan and 38-year-old Ziad Hreidin. Ziad stood next to me when
a sniper bullet hit him in the head. He died on the spot. Altogether, 62 people
were killed and more than a hundred wounded, I assisted with their
transportation to Tafas hospital."
Syrian authorities repeatedly blamed the protesters in Daraa
for initiating the violence and accused them of attacking security forces. All
of the testimony collected by Human Rights Watch indicates, however, that the
protests were in most cases peaceful.
Human Rights Watch documented several incidents in which, in
response to the killings of protesters, Daraa residents resorted to violence,
setting cars and buildings on fire, and killing members of the security forces.
Human Rights Watch said that such incidents should be further investigated, but
that they by no means justify the massive and systematic use of lethal force
against the demonstrators.
Syrian authorities also routinely denied wounded protesters
access to medical assistance by preventing ambulances from reaching the
wounded, and on several occasions opening fire on medical personnel or rescuers
who tried to carrying the wounded away. Security forces took control of most of
the hospitals in Daraa and detained the wounded who were brought in. As a
result, many wounded people avoided the hospitals and were treated in makeshift
hospitals with limited facilities. In at least two cases documented by Human
Rights Watch, people died because they were denied needed medical care.
Witnesses from Daraa and neighboring towns described to
Human Rights Watch large-scale sweep operations by the security forces, who
detained hundreds of people daily, as well as the targeted arrests of activists
and their family members. The detainees, many of them children, were held in
appalling conditions. All ex-detainees interviewed said that they, as well as
hundreds of others they saw in detention, had been subjected to torture,
including prolonged beatings with sticks, twisted wires, other devices, and
electric shocks. Some were tortured on improvised metal and wooden
"racks" and, in at least one case documented by Human Rights Watch, a
male detainee was raped with a baton.
Two witnesses independently reported to Human Rights Watch
the extrajudicial execution of detainees on May 1 at an ad hoc detention
facility at a football field in Daraa. One of the detainees said the security
forces had executed 26 detainees; the other described a group of "more than
20." Human Rights Watch has not been able to further corroborate these
accounts. However, the detailed information provided by two independent
witnesses and the fact that other parts of their statements were fully
corroborated by other witnesses supports the credibility of the allegations.
On April 25, security forces began a large-scale military
operation in Daraa, imposing a blockade that lasted at least 11 days and was
then extended to neighboring towns. Under the cover of heavy gunfire, security
forces occupied every neighborhood in the city, ordered people to remain
indoors, and opened fire on those who defied the ban. Witnesses said that Daraa
residents experienced acute shortages of food, water, medicine, and other
necessary supplies during the siege. The security forces shot out water tanks.
Electricity and all communications were cut off. Unable to bury or properly
store the growing number of dead bodies, Daraa residents stored many of them in
mobile vegetable refrigerators that could run on diesel fuel.
Syrian authorities also imposed an information blockade on
Daraa. They prevented any independent observers from entering the town, and
shut down all means of communication. Security forces searched for and
confiscated cellphones that contained footage of events in Daraa, and arrested
and tortured those whom they suspected of trying to get images or other
information out, including some foreign nationals. In some areas, electricity
and communications remain cut off.
Human Rights Watch called on the Syrian government to halt
immediately the use of excessive and lethal force by security forces against
demonstrators and activists, release all arbitrarily arrested detainees, and
provide human rights groups and journalists with immediate and unhindered access
to Daraa. It also called on the Security Council to adopt targeted financial
and travel sanctions on officials responsible for continuing human rights
violations, as well as to push for and support efforts to investigate and
prosecute the grave, widespread and systemic human rights violations committed
in Syria.
"Syrian authorities did everything they could to
conceal their bloody repression in Daraa," Whitson said. "But
horrendous crimes like these are impossible to hide, and sooner or later those
responsible will have to answer for their actions."