Amnesty condemns Syria for disappearance of detainees

Source: Yahoo! News / Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - The Syrian state and allied militia have detained and abducted tens of thousands of people since 2011 in a campaign of enforced disappearances that is a crime against humanity, Amnesty International said in a report on Thursday.

The rights watchdog interviewed relatives of the disappeared who said they had been forced to pay bribes to middlemen with close ties to the authorities to gain information on the fate of their family members, fuelling a lucrative black market.

Amnesty said it had attempted to engage with the Syrian authorities on the issue of forced disappearances and was awaiting a response. The Syrian government has regularly dismissed reports accusing the state of human rights abuses.

"The enforced disappearances carried out since 2011 by the Syrian government were perpetrated as part of an organized attack against the civilian population that has been widespread, as well as systematic," Amnesty said.

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