New video emerges of Syrian patients tortured in hospitals

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A video aired by a British television station purporting to show Syrian patients being tortured in hospital appears to support increasingly grave allegations pointing to crimes against humanity, the U.N. torture investigator said on Tuesday.

Juan Mendez, United Nations special rapporteur on torture worldwide, said that while he had not seen the Channel 4 video, it seemed in line with recent reports he has received on Syrian forces torturing opponents.

“Unfortunately this new allegation is consistent with what my mandate (office) has been receiving over the last several months. The new allegation only adds to the gravity of the situation,” Mendez told Reuters in Geneva.

The secretly shot video, which Channel 4 aired on Monday, showed what it said were Syrian patients being tortured by medical staff at a state-run hospital in Homs.

Wounded, blindfolded men were chained to beds. A rubber whip and electrical cable lay on a table in one of the wards. Some patients showed signs of having been severely beaten.

Channel 4 said it could not independently verify the video.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad faced growing Western anger on Tuesday for preventing aid from entering a devastated district of Homs and over accusations of human rights abuses, including pictures said to show torture victims at a hospital in the city.

Mendez, a U.S.-based law professor from Argentina who himself suffered torture while jailed by the military dictatorship in the 1970s, took up the independent U.N. post in Oct. 2010 and reports to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

He noted that already last year he had denounced Syria’s use of excessive force against demonstrators, “people being beaten so badly in the streets that it amounted to cruel treatment and in some cases torture”.

Mendez said that since then he has received further credible allegations of inmates being tortured in detention centres.

“But all of it seems to be increasing in gravity,” he said.

Call for ICC to Investigate

“With respect of torture, as grave as the allegations were six to eight months ago, this latest seems a step or two above that. I endorse the call by the High Commissioner to have the International Criminal Court investigate whether these amount to crimes against humanity,” he said.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, a former ICC judge, repeatedly has urged the Security Council to refer Syria to the Hague-based ICC prosecutor for investigation.

“I think that the Security Council has a responsibility to protect the Syrian people from these very serious crimes. One way to do it would be for the ICC to exercise jurisdiction,” said Mendez.

Asked about chances of the Security Council taking up the issue, given vetoes by China and Russia of Western-backed resolutions condemning Assad over a crackdown and supporting a call for his exit from to power, he said:

“Judging by the vote in the Security Council last time around I don’t have very high hopes. But I do think we owe it to the Syrian people to ask all five permanent members to exercise their responsibility to protect the Syrian people’s right to be free of torture and crimes against humanity,” he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said that the United Nations has footage similar to the video aired by Channel 4 television.

“It may even be the same footage which was sent to the commission of inquiry on Syria,” he told a news briefing.

“The pictures are truly shocking.”

Colville said independent investigators reporting to the U.N. rights forum had received similar images and testimony.

This had been used in their Feb. 23 report that accused Syrian forces of committing crimes against humanity, including torture.

The first report by the U.N. commission of inquiry last November documented cases of injured people taken to military hospitals where they were beaten and tortured in interrogations.

“Torture and killings reportedly took place in the Homs military hospital — which is the one shown in the Channel 4 footage — by security forces dressed as doctors and allegedly acting with the complicity of medical personnel,” Colville said.

The U.N. inquiry documented evidence that sections of Homs military hospital and Latakia state hospital were “transformed into torture centres actually within the hospitals”, he said.

The Huffington Post

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32 responses to “New video emerges of Syrian patients tortured in hospitals”

  1. Hannibal Avatar
    Hannibal

    If the world does not do something to stop this massacre the world then is an accomplice in this grave crime.

    1. Prophettttt Avatar
      Prophettttt

      What world are you talking about? is it the world that destroyed the world twice , and killed millions of people by engaging the whole universe in two world wars? Are taking about the world that watches Africa as millions are dying every years? Or are you talking  about the same world which financed our Lebanese warlords, for twenty years so we kill each other?or maybe you are talking about the same world that allowed Israel to expel the Palestine from their homes because Israel believes that god gave promised them this piece of land?
      This is the same world that authorized the war o Iraq where more than a million people were killed.
      I won’t mention the Arab league of dictators, we all know what they are about. please don’t get me started.I could go on and on, but I won’t get you depressed.lol
      I need to go pick up my daughter from school.lol

      1. Nopressure Avatar
        Nopressure

        Try to stay calm, you don’t need to get your blood pressure up…

        By the way, don’t they have school bus service where you are? 

        1. Prophettttt Avatar
          Prophettttt

          Nopressure, I’m usually very calm, but what gets my blood pressure up is the hypocrisy of the so called international community,including the Arab league of dictators.
          When you see dictators supporting freedom of expression and democracy in an other dictatorship, while they forbid their own people from seeking  the same. They oppress their own, yet they cry for Syrian people being killed in Syria. They  send troops to Bahrain to help the king suppress his own people, yet they want to send military aid to the Syrian  opposition.
          The same with the so called international community,and the so called leading democracies who kill millions  in Iraq , Afghanistan,and their countries, yet they are outraged at what another dictator is doing.
          The whole world, of which Hannibal was calling upon to stop the massacres in Syria  , has done worse than Assad,and has caused the death of millions of people around the world. When it meets their own interests , they act. these countries are not charities, what ever they do is well calculated ,and well within their own interests.
          As for buss service;It is provided when you live within a certain parameters.We’re  about a mile away only.It would take them an hour to get home,and they would have to leave home an hour earlier. So it is not practical.

      2. Nopressure Avatar
        Nopressure

        It is appalling to me that they keep showing these heart breaking pictures. The slaughter has been going on for more than a year now and everyone knows it. If one was to think outside the box, you know the syrian people are left to fend for themselves and noone is coming to their rescue. The only help they will be getting is lip service and time for the regime to finish them.

        NO OIL…OIL….OIL…

      3. Hannibal Avatar
        Hannibal

        I hear you… But what is the alternative? I have seen videos of babies dying in front of the eyes of their parents… This cannot continue… It is inhumane.

        1. Prophettttt Avatar
          Prophettttt

          Yes it is very inhuman, and very brutal indeed. This uprising should have stayed peaceful,and it should return to its peaceful and civilian way it had started . The opposition which is located  outside of Syria ruined the this revolution, and everything it did played right into the hands of the regime. Sponsoring and seeking the support of the extremist was the biggest mistake . As a matter of fact, I have no faith or trust in all of the Syrian opposition group who are located outside of Syria, they are opportunists who are being  used by the west and the Arab  dictators in order to settle scores with their old buddy Bashar.
          Seeking support for democracy from dictators will not build a democracy nor would it help flourish freedom of expression. People will harvest what they plant, unfortunately.This uprising has been hijacked by the external opposition and by its extremist militants.
          More than year ago- right after Mubarak was ousted- I posted a comment, and predicted that when the Arab spring reaches Syria, it would be the bloodiest and the longest revolution,and that Assad can not stay. But I had not predicted that a Syrian uprising would become a military confrontation between the regime and other Arab  dictators.It’s obvious that the Syrian situation has reached a stalemate where the regime can’t finish off the opposition ,neither can it crush the aspiration of the Syrian people, on the other hand, the opposition can  not bring down the regime by force.The  internal opposition  needs to take control of this uprising,and reverse its course to a civilian, peaceful revolution. I know the regime will try , as it did initially, to crush them by force, but He can not, use his army against protesters the way He has been allowed to do against the extremists,and the militant, who openly seeking military intervention fro other nations.
          Both sides are guilty of killing.You might tell me that they needed to defend themselves, but the cost has exceeded the ability of syrians to afford. If this uprising continues on the direction of military conflict, neither side can win, and the biggest looser would be the Syrian people.
          You and I , being Lebanese who have experienced civil wars,and internal sightings, should know better the cost,and the consequences of internal fighting. In addition to the human  cost, this war will destroy Syria as a nation, and it might very well end up like Libya, where  each tribe is carving part of the country under a so called confederation.Have you noticed how  the number of protesters went down from  hundreds of thousands  to hundreds? Most Syrians are afraid of the alternative,and unfortunately are supporting Assad -not because they love him-  because they fear the extremists.
          I presume that some might accuse me of being cold to the human cost, but I ‘m trying to look at this from an objective angle,and not from an emotional angle. The regime is brutal,and the longer this revolution stays as a military conflict,the longer Assad and his regime would survive.

  2. Hannibal Avatar
    Hannibal

    If the world does not do something to stop this massacre the world then is an accomplice in this grave crime.

    1. Prophettttt Avatar
      Prophettttt

      What world are you talking about? is it the world that destroyed the world twice , and killed millions of people by engaging the whole universe in two world wars? Are taking about the world that watches Africa as millions are dying every years? Or are you talking  about the same world which financed our Lebanese warlords, for twenty years so we kill each other?or maybe you are talking about the same world that allowed Israel to expel the Palestine from their homes because Israel believes that god gave promised them this piece of land?
      This is the same world that authorized the war o Iraq where more than a million people were killed.
      I won’t mention the Arab league of dictators, we all know what they are about. please don’t get me started.I could go on and on, but I won’t get you depressed.lol
      I need to go pick up my daughter from school.lol

  3. If the world does not do something to stop this massacre the world then is an accomplice in this grave crime.

    1. Prophettttt Avatar
      Prophettttt

      What world are you talking about? is it the world that destroyed the world twice by engaging the whole universe in two world wars? Are taking about the world that watches Africa as millions are dying every years? Or are you talking  about the same world which financed our Lebanese wars for twenty years so we kill each other?or maybe you are talking about the same world that allowed Israel to expel the Palestine from their homes because they believe that god gave promised them this piece of land?
      This is the same world that authorized the war o Iraq where more than a million people were killed.
      I won’t mention the Arab league of dictators, we all know what they are about. please don’t get me started.I could go on and on, but I won’t get you depressed.lol
      I need to go pick up my daughter from school.lol 

      1. Nopressure Avatar
        Nopressure

        Try to stay calm, you don’t need to get your blood pressure up…

        By the way, don’t they have school bus service where you are? 

        1. Prophettttt Avatar
          Prophettttt

          Nopressure, I’m usually very calm, but what gets my blood pressure up is the hypocrisy of the so called international community,including the Arab league of dictators.
          When you see dictators supporting freedom of expression and democracy in an other dictatorship, while they forbid their own people from seeking  the same. They oppress their own, yet they cry for Syrian people being killed in Syria. They  send troops to Bahrain to help the king suppress his own people, yet they want to send military aid to the Syrian  opposition.
          The same with the so called international community,and the so called leading democracies who kill millions  in Iraq , Afghanistan,and their countries, yet they are outraged at what another dictator is doing.
          The whole world, of which Hannibal was calling upon to stop the massacres in Syria  , has done worse than Assad,and has caused the death of millions of people around the world. When it meets their own interests , they act. these countries are not charities, what ever they do is well calculated ,and well within their own interests.
          As for buss service;It is provided when you live within a certain parameters.We’re  about a mile away only.It would take them an hour to get home,and they would have to leave home an hour earlier. So it is not practical.

      2. Nopressure Avatar
        Nopressure

        It is appalling to me that they keep showing these heart breaking pictures. The slaughter has been going on for more than a year now and everyone knows it. If one was to think outside the box, you know the syrian people are left to fend for themselves and noone is coming to their rescue. The only help they will be getting is lip service and time for the regime to finish them.

        NO OIL…OIL….OIL…

      3. I hear you… But what is the alternative? I have seen videos of babies dying in front of the eyes of their parents… This cannot continue… It is inhumane.

        1. Prophettttt Avatar
          Prophettttt

          Yes it is very inhuman, but brutal indeed. This uprising should have stayed peaceful,and it should return to its peaceful way. The opposition which is located  outside of Syria ruined the this revolution, and everything it did played right into the hands of the regime. Sponsoring and seeking the support of the extremist was the biggest mistake . As a matter of fact, I have no faith or trust in all of the Syrian opposition group who are located outside of Syria, they are opportunists who are being  used by the west and the Arab  dictators in order to settle scores with their old buddy Bashar.
          Seeking support for democracy from dictators will not build a democracy nor would it help flourish freedom of expression. People will harvest what they plant, unfortunately.
          A year ago, I posted a comment, and predicted that when the Arab spring reaches Syria, it would be the bloodiest and the longest revolution,and that Assad can not stay. But I had not predicted that a Syrian uprising would become a military confrontation between the regime and other Arab  dictators.It’s obvious that the Syrian situation has reached a stalemate where the regime can’t finish off the opposition ,neither can it crush the aspiration of the Syrian people, on the other hand, the opposition can  not bring down the regime by force.The  internal opposition  needs to take control of this uprising,and reverse its course to a civilian, peaceful revolution. I know the regime will try , as it did initially, to crush them by force, but He can not, use his army against protesters the way He has been allowed to do with the extremists,and the militant. Both sides are guilty of killing.You might tell me that they needed to defend themselves, but the cost has exceeded the ability of syrians to afford. If this uprising continues on the direction of military conflict, neither side can win, and the biggest looser would be the Syrian people. You and I , being Lebanese who have experienced civil wars,and internal sightings, should know better the cost,and the consequences of internal fighting. In addition to the human  cost, this war will destroy Syria as a nation, and it might very well end up like Libya, where  each tribe is carving part of the country under a so called confederation.Have you noticed how  the number of protesters went down from  hundreds of thousands  to hundreds? Most Syrians are afraid of the alternative,and unfortunately are supporting Assad -not because they love him-  because they fear the extremists.I know some might accuse me of being cold to the human cost, but I ‘m trying to look at this from an objective angel,and not from an emotional angel. The regime is brutal,and the longer this revolution stays as a military conflict,the longer Assad and his regime would survive.

  4. antar2011 Avatar
    antar2011

    only happens in syria…under Assad-the-butcher regime.

    did we hear the same thing happening for the Palestinians under Zionists control? of course no.

    so much for “resistance and prevention” …tfoooo

  5. antar2011 Avatar
    antar2011

    only happens in syria…under Assad-the-butcher regime.

    did we hear the same thing happening for the Palestinians under Zionists control? of course no.

    so much for “resistance and prevention” …tfoooo

  6. antar2011 Avatar
    antar2011

    only happens in syria…under Assad-the-butcher regime.

    did we hear the same thing happening for the Palestinians under Zionists control? of course no.

    so much for “resistance and prevention” …tfoooo

  7. Fauzia45 Avatar
    Fauzia45

    These people are being killed and tortured by their own people!!!!! This regime  continues to believe that the use of excessive force;torture and what not ,  is the way to silence the opposition  and to cling to power !We have seen that it has not been able to silence the voices !!

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      In reality, the voices become louder. Young people around the world are uniting as one voice – against all the despots. We can hope they will remember when they become older.

  8. Fauzia45 Avatar
    Fauzia45

    These people are being killed and tortured by their own people!!!!! This regime  continues to believe that the use of excessive force;torture and what not ,  is the way to silence the opposition  and to cling to power !We have seen that it has not been able to silence the voices !!

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      In reality, the voices become louder. Young people around the world are uniting as one voice – against all the despots. We can hope they will remember when they become older.

  9. yazidi Avatar

    i think they need more time to analyze those videos for a prove of their  legemite and it will take more time for extra a year or so!! 22 million not enough time to finsh them off. Big Lie  called The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) !!

    1.  you took the word out of my mouth. well said

  10. yazidi Avatar

    i think they need more time to analyze those videos for a prove of their  legemite and it will take more time for extra a year or so!! 22 million not enough time to finsh them off. Big Lie  called The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) !!

    1.  you took the word out of my mouth. well said

  11. guss043 Avatar

    The west is behaving is like  they never knew what this regime is capable of , didn’ the CIA send many aal Kaeda to be tortured in Syria after 9-11 as they couldn’t torture them themselves ,especially the one they wanted them killed ?
    stop this hypocrisy, Lebanese were kidnapped tortured and still over 5000 Lebanese missing in Syrian Jails.France first one to know , until recently France was a big arm seller to Syria. Enough western Hypocrisy,from dealing with Khadaffi and trying to save his ass in the beginning of the uprising by the ex members of Bush administration  to whatever,

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      Hi Guss … hypocrisy is in the headlines the uneducated masses read. It’s politics.
      When the ‘leaders’ want to do business with other countries, they play up the benefits and reasons for making trade deals … and relate how nice ‘those people’ are or could become … and tend to bury the bad points, which most often have to do with something in the humanitarian or ecological sense if your mind is rather more modern in it’s perceptions.  (At one time it was who made the best swords that was seen as progressive …) 
      General thinking is that ‘If there is trade, then ‘those people’ will see eventually the error of their ways and change’ … become better over time with increases in their own economic levels too.
      When things go sour and nothing improves over time, and so many people suffer under the wrongs of whatever society that it cannot be hidden any more, the headlines change. Suddenly the good is buried and the evils come to the fore. In the case of Syria, as well as some others, they become so glaringly anti-human that the major evils override all considerations of business. It’s no longer worth it to hide the bad points.
      And we could say that all societies have bad points … the problem is in the recognition of them … a recognition which needs to occur within the society itself first.
      The massive brainwashing of religious perceptions may still have a chance of being turned to more general humanitarian thoughts – impartial open and free education could be the best way. But many become stuck in headlines – we tend to be lazy – and the hypocrisy continues, only because the research is never done or the truth is never published largely.
      (Example: Teacher charged with molesting – huge headline. Months later, teacher being cleared found buried in small column inside … leaving a life in ruin anyway. We love the ‘sensational’ … not the truth.)  
      It’s all business and politics. Doesn’t seem to work well for humans in some places. Generally, we fail. And we don’t educate. Too bad the young need to learn all over again … and some never see the hypocrisy.

      1.  The thing that strikes fear into the heart of any tyrant is the free and
        open access to information by the people that they subjugate.
        Information is an extremely powerful weapon and it is one reason why
        tyrants seek to keep it from the people.Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/03/iran_trying_to_contain_the_internet_comments.html#disqus_thread#ixzz1oXYW8pgE

  12. guss043 Avatar

    The west is behaving is like  they never knew what this regime is capable of , didn’ the CIA send many aal Kaeda to be tortured in Syria after 9-11 as they couldn’t torture them themselves ,especially the one they wanted them killed ?
    stop this hypocrisy, Lebanese were kidnapped tortured and still over 5000 Lebanese missing in Syrian Jails.France first one to know , until recently France was a big arm seller to Syria. Enough western Hypocrisy,from dealing with Khadaffi and trying to save his ass in the beginning of the uprising by the ex members of Bush administration  to whatever,

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      Hi Guss … hypocrisy is in the headlines the uneducated masses read. It’s politics.
      When the ‘leaders’ want to do business with other countries, they play up the benefits and reasons for making trade deals … and relate how nice ‘those people’ are or could become … and tend to bury the bad points, which most often have to do with something in the humanitarian or ecological sense if your mind is rather more modern in it’s perceptions.  (At one time it was who made the best swords …) 
      General thinking is that ‘If there is trade, then ‘those people’ will see eventually the error of their ways and change’ … become better over time with increases in their own economic levels too.
      When things go sour and nothing improves over time, and so many people suffer under the wrongs of whatever society that it cannot be hidden any more, the headlines change. Suddenly the good is buried and the evils come to the fore. In the case of Syria, as well as some others, they become so glaringly anti-human that the major evils override all considerations of business. It’s no longer worth it to hide the bad points.
      And we could say that all societies have bad points … the problem is in the recognition of them … a recognition which needs to occur within the society itself first.
      The massive brainwashing of religious perceptions may still have a chance of being turned to more general humanitarian thoughts – impartial open and free education could be the best way. But many become stuck in headlines – we tend to be lazy – and the hypocrisy continues, only because the research is never done or the truth is never published largely.
      (Example: Teacher charged with molesting – huge headline. Months later, teacher being cleared found buried in small column inside … leaving a life in ruin anyway. We love the ‘sensational’ … not the truth.)  
      It’s all business and politics. Doesn’t seem to work well for humans in some places. Generally, we fail. And we don’t educate. Too bad the young need to learn all over again … and some never see the hypocrisy.

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