HRW calls for probe into gorge Daesh used for a mass grave in Syria

Human Rights Watch yesterday called for an investigation to be launched into a gorge in northern Syria where Daesh used to dump the bodies of its victims.

HRW said evidence regarding the gorge came to light in 2014 when an anti-Daesh news site posted a video showing the terror group’s militants dumping the bodies of two men they had executed in the pit. According to the watchdog, the news site obtained the footage from a computer shop worker who had secretly copied it from the laptop of a Daesh militant whose computer he was repairing.

HRW said it had used several tools including satellite images, geological maps and testimonies from local residents during its investigation. The rights group also flew a drone over the gorge and found several bodies floating in the water.

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Daesh controlled the area between 2013 and 2015, before being expelled by Kurdish forces in late 2017. The area is currently controlled by Turkish-backed Syrian fighters.

Sara Kayyali, Syria researcher at HRW said: “Al-Hota gorge, once a beautiful natural site, has become a place of horror and reckoning.”

“Exposing what happened there, and at the other mass graves in Syria, is crucial to determining what happened to the thousands of people ISIS [Daesh] executed and holding their killers to account,” she added.

According to HRW, Al-Hota is one of 20 mass graves uncovered in areas formerly controlled by the militant group.

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