Syria is a 'torture-chamber', UN calls for prosecution

The top UN human rights official today called for tens of thousands of detainees to be released from Syria’s prisons and for torturers to be brought to court as part of a lasting peace.

Former Syrian detainees testified before the UN Human Rights Council about their suffering and concern for men, women and children still in the custody of the government or of extremist groups.

Today in a sense the entire country has become a torture-chamber; a place of savage horror and absolute injustice

said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein.

“Ensuring accountability, establishing the truth and providing reparations must happen if the Syrian people are ever to find reconciliation and peace,” he told the Geneva forum.

‘Extermination’

Al-Hussein urged the warring sides to halt torture and executions and to free detainees or at least provide basic information to their families.

The Syrian government delegation did not attend but has denied allegations of systematic torture. The envoy from Russia, its main ally, called the event a “waste of valuable time”.

Read: The Syrian revolution: The military performance and political solution

The UN official’s statement confirms findings in the UN Commission of Inquiry, which said that the scale of deaths in prisons indicated that the Assad government was responsible for “extermination as a crime against humanity”.

The UN pledged support to a new mechanism which will collect evidence and prepare criminal files for prosecution by national authorities or an international court.