By Lucy Stuart
Al Arabiya, London, 06 July 2011 – In a report published by Amnesty International Wednesday, the organization reveals an atmosphere of torture and violent repression used by the Syrian security forces in order to subdue protests in the country.

The report is entitled “Crackdown in Syria: Terror in Tell Kalakh” and states that the operations in the town of Tell Kalakh, near the Lebanese border, amount to what constitutes crimes against humanity.
Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa deputy director, said that “Most of the crimes described in this report would fall within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. But the UN Security Council must first refer the situation in Syria to the Court’s Prosecutor.”
In a security force crackdown thatbegan on May 14th and lasted less than one week, Amnesty states that the outcomes were “devastating” and the methods “brutal”. The report draws on accounts from some 50 witnesses and victims, who describe in interviews by phone and from neighbouring Lebanon harrowing scenes of torture, murder, looting, and violence against children. The organization has not been allowed to enter Syria.

Residents who fled to Lebanon reported that there were snipers positioned at a security post, and say sniper fire claimed the life of 24-year-old Ali Basha, who was shot on the morning of May 14. The report states that the heavy military presence and sound of gunfire around Tell Kalakh caused many families to flee, and that they, too, came under fire from Syrian forces on at least two occasions.

The report tells of mass arrests on May 16 and 17May, and adds that Syrian troops went house to house detaining “scores of male residents.” Some of the men detained were tortured by their interrogators. Many other men were reportedly detained as they were trying to flee the town, the report continues.

In one account from the report, a 28-year-old given the name “Wael” described his experience in detention: “The interrogator threatened that I would receive the same torture as those people whose shrieks of pain could be heard. He then splashed water on my back and applied an electric shock to me …”

The same witness continued, “He took me to another room and ordered someone to tie my hands behind my back. Then he brought a vehicle wheel and folded me in a way so that my feet and head and neck were inside the tyre … ”

According to witnesses, at least nine men died in custody; however, it was not until two weeks later that the families of the victims were brought to identify the bodies, and they were given no explanations for the deaths.

A forensic pathologist who reviewed pictures of two of the victims’ bodies concluded in a written statement to Amnesty that “there are a number of excoriations on both shoulders and in the face as a result of blunt force trauma while the victim was alive.”

Amnesty is calling on the Syrian authorities to release all those detained for taking part in peaceful demonstrations and to immediately and unconditionally release all children who are detained. They are also urging an end to the use of artillery or heavy weapons in response to protests.

However, Mr. Luther concludes that “Despite President Bashar Al Assad’s talk of reform, there is little evidence so far that the Syrian authorities will respond to anything but concrete international measures.”

(Lucy Stuart of Al Arabiya’s London Bureau can be reached by email at: lucy.stuart@mbc.net)