The Controversy. |
Because there isn't much information available, many people are skeptical about Amnesty International's claims. This is mainly because in their reports, Amnesty International admits that they have not been able to visit the prisons, and that their report is based on interviews that they have conducted with people who claim to have worked at or been detained in Saydnaya prison. However, with the United Nations and the U.S. State Department backing up Amnesty International's claims, there may be some truth to them, and there isn't any evidence that disproves their statistics.
The president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, has called the Amnesty International allegations "fake news", and Assad's justice ministry claimed that the findings were "totally untrue", and that the report was released in order to make the Syrian government look bad. Bashar al-Assad's comment may not be completely trustworthy, because if found guilty, he would be the one to face the consequences. There is also the question of why Assad won't allow human rights groups to visit Syrian prisons if there truly isn't anything suspicious occurring in them, like he claims.
At this point it is mostly the word of the Syrian government against Amnesty International, and because no solid evidence has been presented, the best course of action would have to be to call for an investigation. However, the possible human rights violations occurring in Syrian prisons are often overlooked because there are so many issues in the Middle East, and in order for an investigation to be carried out, awareness about the issue has to be spread in order to convince human rights groups and other countries to help launch an investigation.
The president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, has called the Amnesty International allegations "fake news", and Assad's justice ministry claimed that the findings were "totally untrue", and that the report was released in order to make the Syrian government look bad. Bashar al-Assad's comment may not be completely trustworthy, because if found guilty, he would be the one to face the consequences. There is also the question of why Assad won't allow human rights groups to visit Syrian prisons if there truly isn't anything suspicious occurring in them, like he claims.
At this point it is mostly the word of the Syrian government against Amnesty International, and because no solid evidence has been presented, the best course of action would have to be to call for an investigation. However, the possible human rights violations occurring in Syrian prisons are often overlooked because there are so many issues in the Middle East, and in order for an investigation to be carried out, awareness about the issue has to be spread in order to convince human rights groups and other countries to help launch an investigation.