Syria: Torture kills 14,000+ civilians since civil war

IDLIB, Syria/ANKARA

The Syrian Human Rights Network (SNHR) on Wednesday announced that over 14,000 civilians have died of torture since the beginning of civil war in Syria early 2011.

“14,227 individuals [including 177 children, 62 women] have died due to torture at the hands of main parties to conflict in Syria from March 2011 to June 2019,” according to the SNHR report which marks the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, falling on June 26.

Torture by Bashar al-Assad regime forces made up 14,070 of the number, with 173 children and 45 women.

Out of total, 43 of the civilians, including a child and two women, were killed under torture of YPG/PKK terrorist group, while Daesh terror group is responsible for the death of 32 civilians, including a child, 14 women.

Other unidentified parties killed 15 civilians by torture, according to the report.

The report stressed that the figures consisted of only those that can be identified, and that the real death toll is much higher.

Syria has been locked in a devastating conflict since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected severity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to UN figures, while women and children continue to bear the brunt of the conflict.