GENEVA / SYRIA EXECUTION DETAINEES
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STORY: GENEVA / SYRIA EXECUTION DETAINEES
TRT: 2:24
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 10 FEBRUARY 2017 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior, Palais des Nations
2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Both the Human Rights office of the High Commissioner and the Commission of inquiry in Syria have repeatedly raised serious concerns about the detention in Al Saydnaya military prison. That is the one focused on in the Amnesty Report. But also another government run detention facility throughout the country and there had been numerous reports of torture and other ill-treatment as well as denial of food, water, medicine and medical care. Many detainees have reportedly died as a result of untreated illnesses, or injuries. This is in addition to accusations of summary executions and we have received reports of numerous deaths in custody”.
4. Med shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“I would point out that the Commission of Inquiry and its report on detention in Syria last February 2016, found that the government had committed the crimes against humanity of extermination. That is a very serious crime”.
6. Med shot, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“It described how he and other detainees were systematically ill-treated with cables, pipes and other tools while blind folded both at Al Saydnaya and other facilities. He stated he was first held in Al Saydnaya with 17 other detainees all of them naked in cells about 4 square meters which were designed for solitary confinement and not for 17 people. And then in a larger cell which held 35 other detainees also naked throughout the time they were there. F ood was scare, one daily meal, he claims witnessed the death of five other detainees, either as a result of torture or the denial of medical care”.
8. Med shot, journalists
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The Commission of Inquire, for example – findings of their report and I have spoken to them this week subsequent to the Amnesty report - they said that the findings were extremely consistent with everything they find out in their report a year ago. Their report was based on 621 detailed interviews with victims who have been detained throughout the entire period of this conflict”.
10. Wide shot, journalists
Following an Amnesty International report published earlier this week on the execution of 13,000 Syrian detainees by the Syrian Government in the military prison Al Saydnaya near Damascus, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported similar findings in the past.
Rupert Colville, OHCHR’s spokesperson told media in Geneva today (10 Feb) “there had been numerous reports of torture and other ill-treatment as well as denial of food, water, medicine and medical care. Many detainees have reportedly died as a result of untreated illnesses, or injuries. This is in addition to accusations of summary executions and we have received reports of numerous deaths in custody”.
Colville described that “many detainees have reportedly died as a result of untreated illnesses or injuries. This is in addition to accusations of summary executions and we have received reports of numerous deaths in custody”.
OHCHR’s Colville said that “I would point out that the Commission of Inquiry and its report on detention in Syria last year in February 2016, found that the government had committed the crimes against humanity of extermination. That is a very serious crime”.
In a press briefing today, Colville quoted a witness and former detainee of Saydnaya prison, saying that “he described how he and other detainees were systematically ill-treated with cables, pipes and other tools while blind folded both at Saydnaya and other facilities”. Colville continued by saying that “he stated he was first held in Saydnaya with 17 other detainees all of them naked in cells about 4 square meters which were designed for solitary confinement and not for 17 people. And then in a larger cell which held 35 other detainees also naked throughout the time they were there food was scare, one daily meal, he claims witnessed the death of five other detainees, either as a result of torture or the denial of medical care”.
Colville said that “the Commission of Inquire, for example – findings of their report and I have spoken to them this week subsequent to the Amnesty report - they said that the findings were extremely consistent with everything they find out in their report a year ago. Their report was based on 621 detailed interviews with victims who have been detained throughout the entire period of this conflict”.
According to Amnesty International the executions took place between 2011 and 2015. The report said an average of 20-50 people were hanged each week at the Al Saydnaya military prison, the victims being overwhelmingly civilians who are thought to oppose the government.
The Amnesty report followed a report issued a year ago by the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria who had documented a high number of deaths in Saydnaya military prison.