HRW: If The Dead Could Speak
The rights group conducted a nine-month investigation into more than 28,000 photographs smuggled out of Syria by a military defector codenamed Caesar.
The pictures appeared to show the bodies of some 6,000 Syrian detainees - often bearing marks of torture or starvation - who allegedly died in government detention centres or after being transferred to military hospitals.
"We have meticulously verified dozens of stories, and we are confident the Caesar photographs present authentic - and damning - evidence of crimes against humanity in Syria," said Nadim Houry, HRW's deputy Middle East director. "These photographs show peoples' children, their husbands, their beloved family members, and friends that they spent months or years searching for," Houry said.