Report alleges Syrian government hanged 13,000 dissenters

As many as 13,000 people may have died in a prison for political dissenters in Syria, claims a new report from Amnesty International. Authorities at the government prison, known to detainees as “the slaughterhouse,” hanged an estimated 20-50 people each week from 2011 to 2015, according to information from interviews with 81 former prisoners and officials. Witnesses said the killings followed sham trials that often lasted only 1-2 minutes. Amnesty reported last year that about 17,000 Syrians were known to have died after being tortured or neglected in government custody. If true, the allegations would show that the Syrian regime was responsible for nearly as many deaths through extrajudicial executions and torture as the number of people killed in battle in Aleppo—21,000—during the civil war.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.