U.N. Team Accuses Syria of Crimes Against Humanity
It’s about time. A U.N. panel has concluded that members of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime are guilty of “gross human rights violations” amounting to crimes against humanity.
It’s about time. A U.N. panel has concluded that members of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime are guilty of “gross human rights violations”—including the torture and killing of civilians—amounting to crimes against humanity. The group did not release the names of the officials accused in the report.
Meanwhile, two Western journalists — Marie Colvin of London’s Sunday Times and French photographer Rémi Ochlik — were killed in Homs on Wednesday during a 19th day of bombardment by Assad’s military. Their deaths brought the number of journalists killed in the region in the last four months to eight, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Experts suspect officials may have targeted their makeshift media center by tracing satellite signals. –ARK
WAIT, BEFORE YOU GO…The New York Times:
The investigators said the report was based on 369 interviews with victims, witnesses, defectors and other people with “inside knowledge” of the situation in Syria. They also examined photographs, video recordings and satellite imagery to corroborate some witness accounts. The investigators said they were not allowed to enter Syria to conduct inquiries at first hand.
… “The commission received credible and consistent evidence identifying high- and mid-ranking members of the armed forces who ordered their subordinates to shoot at unarmed protesters, kill soldiers who refused to obey such orders, arrest persons without cause, mistreat detained persons and attack civilian neighborhoods with indiscriminate tanks and machine gun fire,” the investigators said.
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