Konflikten i Syrien

A comparison of the HRW Report and the Carter-Ruck report reveals a stunning discrepancy between the two reports.

According to the Carter-Ruck report “In all, approximately fifty-five thousand (55,000) images have,to date, been made available outside Syria by these processes. As there were some four or five photographs taken of each body this approximates to there being images of about eleven thousand (11,000)dead detainees.”

However, according to the Human Rights Watch report, 24,568 of the photos are of dead soldiers and members of the security services and just 28,707 are ones which Human Rights Watch “understand to have died in government custody.”

This writer has asked all the authors of the Carter-Ruck report how they failed to notice that 24,568 of the photos are of dead soldiers and members of the security services and whether they would care to comment on the discrepancy and, given their study was based on a dip survey of the whole set, whether they would comment on how this revelation affects the credibility of their report and their assessment of “Caesar’s” credibility.

Human Rights Watch maintain in their report that they “understand” the photos include 6,786 separate dead detainees. HRI has asked the HRW why they “understand” these dead individuals are all detainees – rather than, for instance, individuals who have died in violence in Damascus or the surroundings or died of their wounds after being taken to the military hospital – particularly as HRW have, in their own words, only been “able to verify 27 cases of detainees whose family members’ statements regarding their arrest and physical characteristics matched the photographic evidence.

Other questions which arise from a comparison of the two reports include why the authors of the Carter-Ruck report say 26.948 images were provided by Caesar as well as “some ” of the other 20,000+ whereas HRW make no such distinction; why HRW have used a medical examiner, Dr Nizam Peerwani, who reportedly excited some controversy regarding a dead infant, a missing brain and missing slides; why HRW have only reviewed some of the 24,568 images of dead soldiers and crime scenes and why they describe the numbers attached to the bodies as being indicative of detention centers rather that military intelligence units.

The photos have, of course, come via the pro-rebel “Syrian National Movement” – HRW mention a contract under which these photos were provided and that should be published in full.

Those involved in producing the Carter-Ruck report are:

Chairman: The Rt. Hon Sir Desmond de Silva Contact
Sir Desmond was the former United Nations Chief War Crimes Prosecutor in Sierra Leone.
Dr Stuart Hamilton of the East Midlands Forensic Pathology Unit Contact
Professor David Crane, formerly Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone who is on the leadership council of the American Bar Association’s International Law Section. Contact
Sir Geoffrey Nice QC who worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia – the ICTY – between 1998 and 2006 and led the prosecution of Slobodan Milošević, former President of Serbia.
Professor Sue Black President of Association for Science Education (Scotland) Contact
Stephen Cole of Acume Forensic a company which performs Expert Witness services for the Crown Prosecution Service

At the time of writing none of the authors have responded to our questions.