War
Crimes
_ A 35 page
report, “Abductions, Torture and Summary Killings Under Armed Group
Rule in Aleppo and Idleb, Syria” by Amnesty International was
released on July 5, 2016. A news article about the report was issued
at the same time: “Syria: Abductions, torture and summary killings
at the hands of armed groups.” Amnesty notes that these groups are
backed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and the United States.
“The
briefing features abuses committed by five armed groups which have
exercised control over parts of the governorates of Aleppo and Idleb
since 2012. They include the Nour al-Dine Zinki Movement, al-Shamia
Front and Division 16 [Free Syrian Army], which joined the Aleppo
Conquest coalition of armed groups (also known as Fatah Halab) in
2015. They also include Jabhat al-Nusra and the Ahrar al-Sham Islamic
Movement in Idleb, which both joined the Army of Conquest coalition,
similarly in 2015.”
_ 24 cases
of abduction, five cases of torture are documented in this briefing.
Torture was used for forced confessions in Sharia “law courts
established by the Syrian “rebels”. Humanitarian aid workers,
peaceful activists, minorities and children were targeted. Numerous
first-hand accounts from individuals are documented.
_ “Bassel”,
a lawyer in Idlib said he was happy to be free from the “Syrian
government’s unjust rule, but now the situation is worse” under
al Nusra.
“’I
was happy to be free from the Syrian government’s unjust rule but
now the situation is worse. I publicly criticized Jabhat al-Nusra on
Facebook… The next morning Jabhat al-Nusra forces took me from my
home,’ he said.”
_ Philip
Luther, director of Amnesty’s programme in the Middle East and
North Africa said that the US and Russia must prioritize the
detention by Syrian government forces and abduction by the Syrian
rebel groups in the Geneva talks and calls on the UN Security Council
to use targeted sanctions on the “leaders of armed groups who are
responsible for war crimes.”
Philip
Luther: “While some civilians in areas controlled by armed
opposition groups may at first have welcomed an escape from brutal
Syrian government rule, hopes that these armed groups would respect
rights have faded as they have increasingly taken the law into their
own hands and committed serious abuses.”
Source:
Comments
Post a Comment