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GENEVA: Syrian activists and other citizens have vanished into secret detention as part of a “widespread campaign of terror against the civilian population” by the Damascus government, UN investigators said on Thursday.
The state-run practice of enforced disappearances in Syria is systematic enough to amount to a crime against humanity, they said in a report.
The UN investigators said most witnesses identified Syrian intelligence officers, soldiers and militias loyal to President Bashar Assad as having snatched people whose fate remains unknown.
“In Syria, silence and fear shroud enforced disappearances. In several cases, individuals who reported a disappearance were themselves detained,” said the report by the independent investigators led by Brazilian Paulo Pinheiro.
Despite the “organized nature” of the arrests and detentions, authorities fail to record the names and details of such detainees, including those who die, making it difficult to trace them and inform families, it said. Some bodies are returned bearing signs of severe torture.