BEIRUT — Syria’s justice ministry on Wednesday rejects an Amnesty International report of mass hangings of as many as 13,000 people in a prison near Damascus, calling the allegations “totally untrue” and part of a smear campaign.
The ministry’s statement, published by Syria’s state-run news agency, comes a day after Amnesty releases its report, based on a year of research and interviews with 31 former detainees at the Saydnaya prison near Damascus and over 50 former guards, prison officials, judges and experts.
Amnesty’s report includes chilling details from witnesses who saw various stages of the killings, down to the actual implementation and last-minute wishes of the men hanged, most of whom were civilians.
In Damascus, the justice ministry says “misleading and inciting” media outlets carried the Amnesty report with the intention to smear the Syrian government’s reputation on the world stage — particularly after recent “military victories against terrorists groups.” The government refers to all armed opposition as “terrorists.”
— AP
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