Syrian regime accused of burning dozens of people alive

The Syrian regime has burned dozens of people to death as well as the corpses of hundreds of others, according to a report by activists.

In a joint report released on Wednesday, the Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights and the Syrian Network for Human Rights said the Syrian regime forces and their allies had killed at least 82 people by burning them alive, including 47 civilians and 18 children.

The report said the regime had burned the bodies of 773 others, including 146 women and 69 children, after they were killed.

This was apparently "to take revenge, deter and terrorise local communities, and/or to deform and disfigure bodies and thus cover up the crimes".

The report also said there were cases of women being burned after being sexually assaulted.

The report was released weeks after the Islamic State group burned to death the Jordanian pilot, Moaz al-Kassasbeh.

The document alleges several cases of the Syrian regime using the method on its own people.

* On 28 January 2012 pro-government militias killed three children and one woman by burning them alive inside their home in the Gold Market in Latakia.

* On 3 September 2012, government forces surrounded a and set fire to a house in Farrayeh, Hama, killing 27 opposition fighters inside.

* On 19 September 2012, government forces in Mashaa al-Arbeen, Hama, locked a number of men inside a house and set fire to the building.

* In September 2013, pro-regime militias threw three people into a furnace in the Jura area of Deir ez-Zor. Their burned bodies were found several days later.

Call to action

Fadel Abdul Ghani, the director of the UK-based Syrian Network for Human Rights, told al-Araby: "The network's teams documented at last 44 massacres of a sectarian character, which included the torture and abuse of victims and the mutilation of bodies in a sadistic and brutal manner.

The international commuity... focus on the crimes by IS, while ignoring similar crimes committed by Syrian government forces. Fadel Abdul Ghani, SNHR director.

"The executions by burning are brutal and represent a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, as being inhumane acts intentionally causing great suffering or serious injury.

"The focus of the international community on the crimes committed by IS, while ignoring almost all similar crimes committed by Syrian government forces and pro-government local and foreign militias, is fueling IS with more fighters and resources.

"The UN Security Council must fight extremism and terrorism by all parties and work to fulfill its role in ending the ongoing conflict in Syria, which has become a great threat to international peace and security."

Al-Araby cannot independently verify any of the cases presented in the joint report.

This is an edited translation of the original Arabic.