Reuters
The United Nations said on Thursday it would name a coordinator to probe the fate of Syrian detainees, a move sought by the opposition which accuses President Bashar al-Assad's government of torturing, starving and killing people in custody.
More than 100,000 people are believed to be languishing in government detention centers after five years of civil war. An unknown number are held by rebel and jihadi groups.
Staffan de Mistura, U.N. Special Envoy on Syria, said he would appoint "in the next few days" a senior technical expert. Diplomats say it could be the only concrete result of this round of stalled peace talks.
"It's a very delicate issue," de Mistura told reporters. "There have been some rumors that when you actually mention the name of a detainee, that detainee disappears."
Two diplomats told Reuters a former expert of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) would be named. One said the woman coordinator would start working on Monday.
Syria opened its prisons for the first time in Sept. 2011 to the ICRC, allowing its aid workers to visit Damascus central prison. The ICRC declined to give details of its current access.
The opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) has made the release of women and children detainees a priority.
"We know that the reason why this issue is so difficult is because it will reveal the magnitude of the atrocities that the regime committed," HNC negotiator Basma Kodmani said.
Mazen Darwish, a lawyer and activist released last August after being held for 3-1/2 years, said he hoped the new coordinator would put the issue squarely on the table by holding talks in Syria with both government and opposition.
U.N. investigators have said detainees held by the government are being killed on a massive scale amounting to a state policy of "extermination" of the population.
They also documented mass executions and torture of prisoners abducted by the Nusra Front and Islamic State they say constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity.
More than 50,000 "Caesar" photos, smuggled out in 2013, revealed torture endured by inmates in state facilities. Fewer than 800 bodies have been identified.
Fadwa Mahmoud, an activist held in 1992 by the government of Assad's late father, Hafez al-Assad, said her husband and son had disappeared after their arrest three years ago.
"My suffering continues from the time of the father (Assad) to the time of the son. If this regime continues in power, my grandchildren may be detained in the future."
(Reporting and writing by Stephanie Nebehay; additional reporting by John Irish; Editing by Gareth Jones)