This one is not for the squeamish. A team of world-renowned forensic experts have found what they’re calling “direct evidence of systematic torture and killing” by Bashar al-Assad’s gruesome regime, and published it in a new report.

The report, which is based on pictures of thousands of dead bodies of supposed detainees that were killed while in government custody, would stand in an international criminal tribunal.

David Crane, one of the report’s authors, says this could spell the end for Assad.

This is a smoking gun. Any prosecutor would like this kind of evidence – the photos and the process. This is direct evidence of the regime’s killing machine.

The experts examined 150 photos in agonisingly painful detail, and found that 62% of the bodies showed emaciation – severely low body weight with a hollow appearance indicating starvation.

They also concluded that most of these men were between 20 and 40. Sir Desmond de Silva, the former chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, said that this was now a cut and dry case.

This evidence could underpin a charge of crimes against humanity — without any shadow of a doubt. Of course, it’s not for us to make a decision. All we can do is evaluate the evidence and say this evidence is capable of being accepted by a tribunal as genuine.

[Source : CNN]