by Patrick Appel
Amnesty International released a horrifying report this morning documenting "systematic [and] targeted" crimes against humanity in the Syrian town of Tell Kalach designed to crush dissent in the town:
Most of those detained were tortured, some even as they were being arrested, according to accounts. In one incident, soldiers transporting detainees counted how many they had arrested by stabbing lit cigarettes on the backs of their necks. Detainees told Amnesty International that Military Security, one of the security forces which detrained people, used the shabah (ghost) method, where the detainee is forced into a stress position for long periods and beaten, in these cases by being tied by the wrists to a bar high enough off the ground to force the detainee to stand on the tip of their toes.
Amnesty wants the UN to bring a case against Syria to the ICC. France has been trying to get a milder condemnation of Syria through the Security Council for some time, but has faced resistance from Russia and others.
The Dish 