The Syrian government has been accused of carrying out mass killings of thousands of prisoners by the US government – which released satellite images to prove it.
The Trump administration claims the bodies of those killed were burned in a large crematorium attached to the Saydnaya prison complex outside the Syrian capital of Damascus.
The allegation matches an Amnesty International report released in February which claimed up to 13,000 people – mostly civilians opposed to the government – have been hanged in secret at the prison.
Stuart Jones, the acting US assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, said Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government ‘has sunk to a new level of depravity’ as he revealed the photographs.
The State Department says about 50 detainees a day are being hanged at the military prison, which is located about 45 minutes from Damascus.
‘Credible sources have believed that many of the bodies have been disposed in mass graves,’ Jones told reporters as he showed them aerial photos of the alleged building.
‘We now believe that the Syrian regime has installed a crematorium in the Sednaya prison complex which could dispose of detainees’ remains with little evidence.’
One of those satellite images, provided by the State Department and taken from commercial satellites in January 2015, shows a building in a prison complex in Syria that was modified to support a crematorium.
The snow on one section of the roof is melted in the photo, showing that it was taken in the winter.
Three other photos were also released, with two – taken in August 2013 and April 2016 – showing a side-by-side comparison of the building believed to house the crematorium.
THE JAIL WHERE PRISONERS ARE BEATEN AND HANGED Hangings at Saydnaya are carried out once or twice a week, usually on Monday and Wednesday, in the middle of the night, according to insiders. Those whose names are called out were told they would be transferred to civilian prisons in Syria. Instead, they are moved to a cell in the basement of the prison and beaten severely. They are then transported to another prison building on the grounds of Saydnaya, where they are hanged. Throughout this process, they remain blindfolded. They do not know when or how they will die until the noose was placed around their necks.’They kept them [hanging] there for 10 to 15 minutes. Some didn’t die because they are light. For the young ones, their weight wouldn’t kill them,’ said a former judge who witnessed the hangings.’The officers’ assistants would pull them down and break their necks.’Detainees held in the building in the floors above the ‘execution room’ reported that they sometimes heard the sounds of these hangings.
The later of those two images shows what are believed to be air intake vents, air conditioning units and a ‘discharge stack’ that could be used to expel the smoke created by thousands of burning bodies.
Those photos do not definitely prove the building is a crematorium, but they show construction consistent with such use.
The final photograph, taken in April 2017, shows how close the alleged crematorium building is to the prison – easily just a few minutes’ walk for a condemned man, and moments for a vehicle.
It’s not yet clear exactly where the prisoners are executed, but a judge who witnessed the hangings told Amnesty International that they are taken in the night to another building.
There they are beaten before being hanged to death.
Some – described as ‘the young ones’ – are too light for the rope, and so officers’ assistants will pull down on their feet to break their necks.
Others are left hanging for 10-15 minutes.
Amnesty International released the shocking claims in February, along with statistics about the secret hangings, saying up to 13,000 people had been executed there.
It said the executions have happened at a rate of around 50 a day between 2011 and 2015.
Lynn Maalouf, Deputy Director for Research at Amnesty International’s regional office in Beirut, said: ‘The horrors depicted in this report reveal a hidden, monstrous campaign, authorized at the highest levels of the Syrian government, aimed at crushing any form of dissent within the Syrian population.
‘We demand that the Syrian authorities immediately cease extrajudicial executions and torture and inhuman treatment at Saydnaya Prison and in all other government prisons across Syria.
‘Russia and Iran, the government’s closest allies, must press for an end to these murderous detention policies.’
Jones echoed those thoughts, saying: ‘The United States is on record, has stated many times, that we are appalled by the atrocities that have been carried out by the Syrian regime.
‘And these atrocities have been carried out seemingly with the unconditional support from Russia and Iran.’
He also gave a warning to President Vladimir Putin’s government: ‘Russia must now, with great urgency, exercise its influence over the Syrian regime to guarantee that horrific violations stop now.’
He said he had not yet presented the evidence of the crematorium to Russian officials.
Jones also said the United States should not wholeheartedly believe a deal to set up ‘de-escalation zones’ brokered by Russia during ceasefire talks in the Kazakh capital Astana last week.
The deal was reached with support from Iran and Turkey during ceasefire talks in the Kazakh capital of Astana earlier this month. Jones attended the talks.
‘In light of the failures of the past ceasefire agreements, we have reason to be skeptical,’ he said.
Jones said Assad’s government had carried out air strikes, chemical attacks, extrajudicial killings, starvation, and other measures to target civilians and its opponents.
He criticized Russia and Iran for maintaining their support for Assad despite those tactics.
‘These atrocities have been carried out seemingly with the unconditional support from Russia and Iran,’ Jones said. ‘The (Assad) regime must stop all attacks on civilian and opposition forces. And Russia must bear responsibility to ensure regime compliance.’
He did not say what measures America might take if Russia does not change its stance.
Tensions between the US and Russia heightened after President Donald Trump ordered a cruise missile strike in April against a Syrian air base that the US said had been used to launch a poison gas attack on civilians.
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