An international war crimes prosecutor informed Reuters on Tuesday that recent excavations of burial trenches in Syria could suggest over 100,000 political dissidents may have been abused and murdered under the orders of former Ba'athist dictator Bashar al-Assad.
"We certainly have more than 100,000 people that were disappeared into and tortured to death in this machine,” Stephen Rapp, the former United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, explained to the news outlet after inspecting locations in Najha and Qutayfah. "I don't have much doubt about those kinds of numbers given what we've seen in these mass graves."
Rapp, who was involved in trials of government officials accused of severe human rights violations in Rwanda and Sierra Leone, is currently collaborating with civilian organizations in Syria to collect evidence for possible legal proceedings against al-Assad or members of his internal security services.
"From the secret police who disappeared people from their streets and homes, to the jailers and interrogators who starved and tortured them to death, to the truck drivers and bulldozer drivers who hid their bodies, thousands of people were working in this system of killing," Rapp added.
Last week, the leader of the insurgent group responsible for the December 8 removal of al-Assad and his functionaries revealed the current interim administration plans to pursue those connected to the mistreatment of Syrian citizens during the former regime's repressive rule.
Related Story: United Nations Agency Wants to Investigate Crimes of Former Syrian Regime
