Damascus – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Friday said the recent report issued by Amnesty International about mass hangings in a prison near the capital Damascus is biased and politicised, a media report said.
The president said that the report put the reputation of the organisation into question.
“We don’t look at it as unbiased, it’s always biased and politicised, and it’s a shame that such an organisation releases a report without any evidence whatsoever,’’ Assad said.
On Feb. 7, the Amnesty released a report stating that the Syrian authorities in Saydnaya prison near Damascus carried out mass hangings of as many as 13,000 people.
The rights watchdog accused the government of a “policy of extermination,” adding that its report is based on interviews with 84 witnesses, including guards, detainees, and judges.
The report said the executions happened between 2011 and 2015, adding that most of those slain are civilians opposed to the Syrian government.
They were taken out of their cells “in the middle of the night and in total secrecy.”
According to the president, that does not mean anything.
He continued that Amnesty International did not visit Syria and they have made their reports based on allegations.
“They could bring any person, regardless of whom he is, you can forge anything these days, and we are living in the era of fake news, as you know, and thus we should not rely on that,’’ he said.
On allowing international organisations to visit the prison and inspect the allegations, Assad said that such approval relies on the credibility of the organisation.
“I believe they could use such a visit to demonise the Syrian government more and more, like what is happening now,’’ he stressed.
According to him, what is happening in Syria is a result of the western and regional support to the terrorist groups.
He said that the U. S. has killed civilians since their war on Vietnam, all the way to Iraq, where 1.5 million Iraqis were reportedly killed by the U.S. invasion.
He further quoted former U.S. President Barack Obama as confessing that the presence of IS was a result of the U.S. invasion to Iraq.
On prospects of cooperation with the current administration of Donald Trump, Assad said that if the Trump administration was serious about fighting terrorism, it should happen through cooperation with the Syrian government.
Regarding Trump’s talks of creating safe zones in Syria to host the Syrian refugees, Assad said that such a plan is “unrealistic.”
“Safe zones in Syria can happen when there is peace and security, where there is no more support to the terrorists by neighbouring or Western countries.
“Then there can be a natural safe zone, which is our country,’’ he said.
He further said that restoring stability to make Syria safe again is less costly and more practical that creating safe zones.
Assad considered that any cooperation in any conflict around the world demands a Russian-U.S. rapprochement, extremely essential, not only for Syria.