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UN Panel Accuses Syrian Government of Crimes Against Humanity
(New York Times) Alan Cowell and Steven Lee Myers - A United Nations panel concluded Thursday that "gross human rights violations" had been ordered by the Syrian authorities as a matter of state policy, amounting to crimes against humanity. The panel of three investigators, led by Paulo Pinheiro, a Brazilian professor, said the orders had come from "the highest levels of armed forces and the government." "The commission received credible and consistent evidence identifying high- and mid-ranking members of the armed forces who ordered their subordinates to shoot at unarmed protesters, kill soldiers who refused to obey such orders, arrest persons without cause, mistreat detained persons and attack civilian neighborhoods with indiscriminate tank and machine-gun fire." The investigators said the report was based on 369 interviews with victims, witnesses, defectors, and other people with "inside knowledge" of the situation in Syria.