An image from a YouTube video apparently showing Syrian forces beating up detainees near Homs. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
At least 88 people, including 10 children, have died in detention in Syriasince the uprising against the regime began in March in what amounts to "systematic persecution on a vast scale", according to Amnesty International.
The majority of victims were tortured or ill-treated, with injuries ranging from beatings, burns and blunt-force traumas to whipping marks, electrocution, slashes and mutilated genitals.
Amnesty documented the names, dates and places of arrest of victims, while independent forensic pathologists have established possible causes of death in some cases by examining film of the bodies.
Amnesty's report was released as at least seven people were killed when thousands protested outside mosques following prayers to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
A 13-year-old boy was among those killed when government forces opened fire in the southern province of Deraa. There were further deaths and injuries in the capital Damascus and the city of Homs, where people poured on to the streets to demand the removal of President Bashar al-Assad in defiance of tanks and troops, witnesses said.
Syrian state television showed Assad attending prayers at a mosque in Damascus. In mounting pressure on the regime, the US expanded sanctions to three "principal defenders of the regime" including presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban and foreign minister Walid al-Muallem, both of whom had been part of the pro-reform wing of the regime. Read the rest on:
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