United Nations investigators have said that tens-of-thousands of civilians have been subject to horrendous torture in Syria during the civil war that has lasted more than 10 years. The team have prepared a report to be put before a United Nations committee later next week.
The researchers have said that the torture was carried out against men, women and children, mostly by regime forces loyal to Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad.
"At least 20 different horrific methods of torture used by the government of Syria have been extensively documented. These include administering electric shocks, the burning of body parts, pulling off nails and teeth, mock executions, folding detainees into a car tyre and crucifying or suspending individuals from one or two limbs for prolonged periods, often in combination with severe beating… 'These detainees have endured unimaginable suffering. This has been happening with the knowledge and acquiescence of the governments who have supported the different parties to the conflict."
The report is also expected to cover the disappearance of tens-of-thousands of others whose whereabouts remain unknown. Many are believed to have been buried in unmarked graves after being extra-judicially executed. Leader of the investigation, Paulo Pinheiro, said of the disappeared:
"Hundreds of thousands of family members have a right to the truth about their loved ones' fate."
The report will continue by saying:
"This is a national trauma that needs to be urgently addressed by action from the parties and the international community. The fate of tens of thousands of civilians who were forcibly disappeared by Syrian government forces, many nearly a decade ago, remains unknown. Many are presumed to have died or been executed."
The Syrian Civil War was sparked as part of the Arab Spring. While initially it was believed that anti-government protests were fuelled mostly by demands for democracy and freedom it later emerged that many of the insurgents were in fact Islamic extremists. It was in the power vacuum of the civil war that ISIS was able to emerge and seize vast swathes of Syrian territory. The Kurdish minority on northern Syria also seized upon this opportunity to attempt to establish its own free state known as Rojava.
With Russian support, the Syrian government has defeated most of the insurgency and ISIS, which is now confined to tiny enclaves within the country.
The decade-long war has resulted in over 500,000 deaths, millions of injuries, and the complete destruction of Syria's economy and society. Millions more Syrians have fled the country and become refugees in Turkey and Europe.
[h/t: Daily Mail]
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