David Crane, one of the three experts, told The Associated Press that the cache provides strong evidence for charging Assad and others for crimes against humanity — "but what happens next will be a political and diplomatic decision." In the 55,000 digital images, smuggled out by an alleged defector from Syria's military police, the victims' bodies showed signs of torture, including ligature marks around the neck and marks of beatings, while others show extreme emaciation suggestive of starvation. New York-based Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that the United States has focused too strongly on bringing the warring parties into peace talks at the expense of putting "real pressure" on the Assad government to end atrocities and hold to account those responsible. "From day one, there was a level of violence used initially by the government in its suppression that was unprecedented," said Nadim Houry, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa division. Since the Balkan wars and Rwanda in the 1990s, we have rarely seen a conflict with that many people killed in such a short amount of time. Protests started in the southern city of Daraa in March 2011 in response to the arrest and torture of high school students who scrawled anti-government graffiti on the school wall. Security forces responded with brute force, beating and opening fire on largely peaceful protesters, who initially demanded reforms and later moved to seek Assad's ouster. Warplanes indiscriminately hit rebel-held residential areas with incendiary bombs and crude explosive-filled barrels, often hitting bread lines at bakeries, schools and makeshift hospitals. Islamic militants and foreign al-Qaida-linked fighters joined the war against Assad — and reports of human rights abuses by the opposition soared, including mass killings of prisoners, beheadings and floggings.
Brutality Of Syria War Casts Doubt On Peace Talks
By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle: World
Wed, 01/22/2014 - 12:16am
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