Syria Prison Crematory Is Hiding Mass Executions, U.S. Says
By GARDINER HARRIS and ANNE BARNARDMAY 15, 2017
WASHINGTON — The State Department released satellite images on Monday
that officials said showed that President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has built a crematory at a military prison outside Damascus to hide a large number of executions.
Stuart E. Jones, the acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, said officials believed
that the crematory had been constructed so that little evidence exists of the thousands of people who are executed every year at the Sednaya Prison complex.
The timing of the public announcement suggested that the Trump administration was pressing a tougher political line on Syria,
and seeking to embarrass Russia and Iran — which have supported the Assad government — in an effort to press the Syrian leadership to engage in substantive negotiations.
Satellite photographs of the complex show that while nearby buildings were covered in snow, the roof of the
building suspected to be a crematory was free of snow, suggesting a significant internal heat source.
Mr. Jones said that prisoners had in the past been buried in mass graves, but
that a crematory could dispose of bodies without leaving evidence behind.
The allegations also surfaced as momentum builds on several court cases being prepared in
Europe in an attempt to hold Syrian government officials accountable for war crimes.