Grotesque images show Syrian treatment of political prisoners

'We photographed his body without knowing who he was'

A Syrian military photographer, code named Caesar, smuggled and shared to the world evidence showcasing Bashar al-Assad's grotesque cruelty toward political prisoners. 

While the dictator's regime asks for assistance from abroad for their fight against the Islamic State terrorism, photographs show his actions are just as horrifying as the jihadists'. 

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - In French author Garance Le Caisne's new book Operation Caesar, Caesar provided images to expose Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad's crimes against humanity.

"I saw marks left by burning candles, and once the round mark of a stove - the sort you use to heat tea - that had burned someone's face and hair. Some people had deep cuts, some had their eyes gouged out, their teeth broken, you could see traces of lashes with those cables you use to start cars," he told Caisne.
Caesar was one of the official forensic photographers who worked for the dictator but was driven against al-Assad's ways with what he had witnessed.
The ways men were tortured and killed haunted Caesar and he knew their families would never know what became of their loved ones, so he began to transfer copies of the gruesome images, over 45,000 total, onto a USB drive and smuggle them abroad with the help of family and friends from 2011 to 2013. 
The military photographer still fears for his life, knowing that the Syrian government tortures to gain information as well as to kill.
Men in the photographs were many of the demonstrators who fought against al-Assad's dictatorship, the regime's first victims. The photos indicate they were lashed and burned and were believed to have experienced fatal starvation, castration and scalping. 
One of the most horrific extracts from Operation Caesar was when he saw one of his friends among the victims. "We photographed his body without knowing who he was. Only much later, as I was discreetly looking for information on behalf of his father, did I realize that his photo had passed through our hands and I hadn't recognized him. He had only spent two months in prison. And this was someone who I used to see almost every day."
The horrifying photos were posted on the Internet for everyone to see. 
"We wanted to get these photos out so that the dead people's families would know that their loved ones had passed away. People had to know what was going on in the prisons and detention centers. When Bashar al-Assad falls, you can be sure that the regime will want to destroy the evidence," said Caesar.
 The U.S. and other concerned nations previously campaigned against al-Assad's regime and raised further speculations following Russian support. Now, Caesar's photographs have sparked alarm and have raised awareness of human rights violations the Syrian government committed. 
The Syrian civil war has claimed at least 220,000 deaths and countless Syrian refugees are seeking asylum in other nations due to nonstop bombings.

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