The US State Department [official website] said Monday that it has evidence [official transcript] showing the Syrian government has been using crematoriums to dispose of inmates’ bodies in the Saydnaya prison [AI backgrounder]. Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Stuart Jones [official profile] asserted that about 70 people are held in each five-person capacity prison cell and approximately 50 inmates are killed each day. During his briefing, Jones presented photographs showing some evidence of the building believed to be a crematorium. He highlighted the melting snow on top of the roof as proof that the building is kept at a higher temperature than the other buildings. Jones cited the regime’s various acts of violence to support his premise:

Since 2012, the regime has routinely conducted airstrikes and artillery strikes in dense urban centers, including with barrel bombs, improvised unguided bombs, which are sometimes described as air-dropped IEDs. . . In addition to airstrikes, the regime continues to systematically abduct and torture civilian detainees, often beating, electrocuting, and raping these victims. . . Moreover, the regime has also authorized the extrajudicial killings of thousands of detainees using mass hangings at the Saydnaya military prison. . . Although the regime’s many atrocities are well-documented, we believe that the building of a crematorium is an effort to cover up the extent of mass murders taking place in Saydnaya prison.

The war in Syria [JURIST backgrounder] continues to insight violence on civilians, prisoners and opposition forces. Earlier in May Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] reported new evidence that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons in at least four recent attacks [JURIST report] targeting civilians. In February, according to HRW, the Syrian government conducted [JURIST report] “coordinated chemical attacks” on rebel controlled portions of Aleppo. The same month, Amnesty International reported that more than 13,000 prisoners were hanged [JURIST report] in extrajudicial executions over a 5-year period at the prison.