Amnesty International: Thousands Executed in a Syrian Prison

On Tuesday, February 7, Amnesty International reported that since 2011, the Syrian government has executed 13,000 people in mass executions. This number includes those executed in a prison located north of Damascus, known as the 'slaughterhouse.' According to the Associated Press, the report covers the years 2011 to 2015 and states that in Sednaya prison, dozens of people are executed weekly on the orders of senior Syrian government officials, including Bashar al-Assad's deputies, by military police. Amnesty International describes these widespread killings as an 'organized campaign of arbitrary (extrajudicial) executions.' Lynn Maalouf, a representative of Amnesty International's office in Beirut, stated that the organization has identified and documented at least 35 different methods of torture in Syria since the late 1980s, with the use of these methods increasing since 2011. Other human rights groups have also gathered evidence of torture in Syrian prisons leading to the deaths of prisoners. In its report last year, Amnesty International stated that since 2011, more than 17,000 people (an average of 300 per month) have died due to torture and ill-treatment in Syrian government prisons. The number of victims of torture and ill-treatment in Syrian prisons can be compared to the casualties of the war in Aleppo, where the death toll over six years was about 21,000. Lynn Maalouf added, 'The horrific conditions depicted in this report indicate that a hidden and terrifying campaign was directed and executed by the highest levels of the Syrian government, aimed at crushing any dissent and protest by the people.' Despite the latest statistics being from 2015, Maalouf stated that there is no evidence to suggest that these actions have stopped since then, and therefore, it is likely that thousands more have been killed since that time. Maalouf further noted, 'These executions are carried out after a sham trial that usually lasts two or three minutes but are confirmed by senior government officials, including a Grand Mufti and the Syrian Ministry of Defense. The Syrian government rarely comments on allegations of torture and executions of opponents and always denies reports and documents from human rights organizations as propaganda.' The Associated Press adds that the shocking evidence in this Amnesty International report is based on interviews with 31 former prisoners and over 50 officials and experts, including former prison guards and judges in Syria. According to Amnesty International's findings, prisoners were told they would be transferred to a civilian prison but were taken to another part of the prison and hanged there.