AA reveals new set of photos documenting Syria war crimes

ANKARA 

The Anadolu Agency has obtained a new set of photographs demonstrating systematic torture committed by the Syrian regime against detained opposition members.

The eight new photos, acquired simultaneously with a UN Security Council voting Thursday on a resolution to bring the Syrian civil war before the International Criminal Court, show signs of brutal torture on the bodies of detainees including children and old persons.

The photos portray numbered corpses -- some of which with eyes gouged out and other body parts cut -- being displayed side by side.

Syria's fate was once again been put to the vote in a UN General Assembly draft resolution Thursday, which includes the referral of the situation in Syria since 2011 to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, based in Hague, The Netherlands.

Russia and China, who have already declined three UN General Assembly drafts on Syria, vetoed Thursday's resolution.

The draft that was prepared by France stressed the situation in Syria was a threat to international peace and security. It also condemned the crimes that the Syrian pro-regime armed groups and other non-governmental militia groups had committed since March 2011.

In order to conduct war-crime investigations in Syria, the issue needs to be handed over to the International Criminal Court by the UN Security Council because Syria is not a party to the Rome Statute of the ICC.

On January 20, the Anadolu Agency released another set of photographs documenting war crimes committed by the Assad regime.

Syria has been gripped by almost constant fighting since President Bashar al-Assad's regime responded to anti-government protests in March 2011 with a violent crackdown, sparking a conflict which has spiraled into a civil war.

The civil war, which entered its fourth year, has claimed more than 140,000 lives, according to the London-based Syrian Network for Human Rights.

Anadolu Agency's Syrian torture photos submitted to UN

The photos released by Anadolu Agency depicting torture by the Syrian regime have been submitted by the agency’s New York Bureau to the UN High Commission for Human Rights on Friday.

Anadolu Agency obtained eight new photos, via a former Syrian army officer, demonstrating systematic torture committed by the Syrian regime against detained opposition members in the country’s capital city of Damascus.

At the request of UN officials the agency submitted the eight photos to the French UN Ambassador Gerard Araud who will send the photos to the commission in Geneva for investigation.

The photos were acquired the same day as the UN Security Council voted on a resolution to bring the Syrian civil war before the International Criminal Court.

The agency has also shared these photos with leading media organizations including the New York Times, CNN, Wall Street Journal and Huffington Post.

Previously the agency published pictures showing torture in Syria on January 20 along with a detailed report entitled “Syria war crimes evidence". 

Meanwhile U.S. State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki said “these atrocities are exactly why we have supported efforts like the one that occurred in the UN Security Council to refer the Syrian regime to the ICC”  in response to a question from an AA correspondent at Thursday’s daily briefing.

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