#Systematic mass civilian fatalities in war | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

beardedmrbean · 3 months ago

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New research shows that Hamas has quietly dropped thousands of deaths from its Gaza war casualty figures.

Salo Aizenberg, from the US-based non-profit organisation Honest Reporting, said that Hamas’s March 2025 casualty update had removed thousands of people it previously listed as having been killed last year.

“Hamas’s new March 2025 fatality list quietly drops 3,400 fully “identified” deaths listed in its August and October 2024 reports – including 1,080 children. These “deaths” never happened. The numbers were falsified – again,” Mr Aizenberg wrote.

The casualty lists are released as PDFs by the Hamas-run Gaza ministry of health, which has been cited by international media as a source for fatality figures in the enclave since the start of the war.

A report by the Henry Jackson Society in December said that the number of civilians killed in the Gaza conflict had probably been inflated by Hamas in order to portray Israel as deliberately targeting innocent people.

Andrew Fox, the author of the report, said the latest deletions are likely to have been an attempt by Hamas to retain credibility.

“We knew there were rafts of errors in their reporting,” Mr Fox said. “There’s a reasonable explanation in that their computer systems went down in November 2023, so it’s been challenging for them to report accurately, but the lists are so unreliable that the world’s media shouldn’t be quoting them as reliable.”

He added: “The UN also just takes Hamas’s figures and publishes them with a note stating the figures are unconfirmed.”

The Hamas lists contain information such as names and ID numbers, and can be filled in by anyone with a link to the Google form for the document.

Hamas will “have gone through the list, trying to make it as convincing as possible. They’ve been accepting names onto that list with no evidence whatsoever”, explained Mr Fox. “So what I’m guessing they’re trying to do is thin out the names they cannot substantiate at all.”

Mr Fox, a former British paratrooper who has worked with Mr Aizenberg on previous research, said the teams use the publicly available Hamas data and cross-check it name by name.

“Salo’s research would be looking for names that were on previous lists but have now disappeared,” Mr Fox explained. “Hamas releases lists as PDFs, so it’s harder to do comparisons but we transfer names to an Excel sheet to do a mass comparison this way.”

Mr Fox noted that data within Hamas’ lists undermines its claim that most casualties have been civilians.

“The demographics are the most important thing in all this. We’ve heard the claims that about 70 per cent of the deaths are women and children, and these lists, especially the most recent, show that’s complete nonsense,” he said.

About 72 per cent of fatalities aged 13-55 are men, which is the rough age range of Hamas combatants, Mr Fox said. “We know that Hamas uses child soldiers, and these statistics show clearly that Israel is targeting fighting-aged men.”

In previous conflicts, Hamas figures have often been corroborated by external organisations, Mr Fox said.

The Henry Jackson Society’s December report said: “The ministry of health, operating under Hamas, has systematically inflated the death toll by failing to distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths, over-reporting fatalities among women and children and even including individuals who died before the conflict began.

“This has led to a narrative where the Israel Defense Forces are portrayed as disproportionately targeting civilians, while the actual numbers suggest a significant proportion of the dead are combatants.”

Hamas has claimed the number of deaths in Gaza since the start of the war is now more than 50,000.

The IDF says it has killed 20,000 Hamas combatants during the fighting, and does all it can to mitigate civilian casualties.

“The IDF makes great efforts to estimate and consider potential civilian collateral damage in its strikes. The IDF has never, and will never, deliberately target children,” the IDF said in a statement.

#nunyas news

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 3 years ago

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Picture taken in NYC in the 1950's.

* * * *

Weekend reading on Ukraine:

❝The Russian forces withdrew in the first days of April from this commuter town 15 miles outside the Ukrainian capital. Before the invasion, Bucha was well known in Kyiv as a place to get away, to drop kids off at the summer camp for a couple of weeks or take them to a ropes course called the Crazy Squirrel. Now Bucha is a byword for war crimes, like Srebrenica or My Lai. Scores of bodies littered the streets when the Russians left. A mass grave still occupies the churchyard. Shops and homes lie vacant, pillaged and burned. More than 400 civilians were found dead here, according to local authorities, nearly all with fatal gunshot wounds. “These were not the victims of shelling or aerial bombardment,” says Mikhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “These were intentional killings, close up and systematic.”❞

https://time.com/6166681/bucha-massacre-ukraine-dispatch/

❝"Police found the body in an abandoned Russian military camp where occupying soldiers had sat around drinking wine, their laughter so loud that neighbors seethed as it echoed down Yablunska Street.They had known for weeks that there was a body in the camp, yet another among so many corpses the Russians left behind. Overwhelmed crews picking them up simply hadn’t gotten to it yet. So no one knew it was Ivan Monastyrskyi. His neighbor was the first to identify him, recognizing the unshaven face of a man who had watched his beloved street become a killing field. When his wife, Yulia, approached the body, her blue eyes froze.There were bullet holes in his calves and his arms were stretched out at strange angles between slats of wood with nails through them. His wife looked at the thin sweater he was wearing and couldn’t help thinking how he must have been so cold in his final minutes.Yulia’s neighbors heard her that night, inconsolable.“What happened?” they heard her crying. “What did they do to him?”"❞

https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../bucha-atrocities.../

❝"Many of the photographs of the war in Ukraine deserve to live as indelibly on the public record as those photos of Vietnam. We can only see the extent of the Russian-made horror because of these photos and the photographers who have risked, or given, their lives to get them: Lynsey Addario narrowly escaped death in the same mortar attack that killed the subjects of her photo; the body of the Ukrainian photographer and videojournalist Maksim Levin, a frequent contributor to Reuters, was discovered on April 1 in a village north of Kyiv. Mr. Levin was the sixth journalist killed in Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict.

I’m getting tired of those endless disclaimers �� like the one at the top of this essay — that say, “Warning: Graphic Material.” The best photographs of war might make us want to look away. It’s imperative that we do not."❞

https://www.nytimes.com/.../ukraine-war-bucha-photographs...

❝Russia immediately offered a series of contradictory explanations for the scenes in Bucha: that Russian troops had left the town before the killings began (which was false);

‘that the killings were staged (false);

and that if the killings were real, the massacre was a “false flag” by the Ukrainians (also false).

In fact, the transference of blame to Ukraine for Russia’s own heinous actions has been a hallmark of the war. Russia also claimed that its attack on the Kramatorsk train station, which killed over 50 civilians trying to flee violence in Ukraine’s east, was committed by the Ukrainians themselves.❞ https://news.yahoo.com/russian-war-disinformation-from...

[thanks Joohn Choe]

#Ukraine #war in Ukraine #1950s #resistance #protest #War Crimes #Putin's war #crimes against humanity

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defend-the-empire · 6 years ago

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Centra Malvyst

"There is nothing poetic about clawing at your chest, trying to empty yourself of these poisonous words, coming up with nothing in your palms but blood."

Full Name: Centra Aethera Malvyst Preferred Name: Centra, Malvyst Aliases: N/A Titles: Dominion Acolyte, Archivist, Curator Gender: Female Race: Human Appearance: Stoic, with classically-attractive features. High cheekbones, tanned skin, with raven-dark hair that falls to her shoulders. Holds a very active physique, with heavy scarring over her back from what appears to be a greivous wound inflicted in her mid-teenage years. Height: Tall, 5'10 Weight: 125 Lbs Player class: Sith Acolyte Occupation(s): Sith Acolyte Language: Basic, Huttese, Droidspeak Religion: The Force Organizations: N/A Relatives: Saev Malvyst (Mother, Deceased), Drimu Malvyst (Father, Alive), Unnamed Brother (Alive) Allies: N/A Adversaries: Zev Syros (Alive, Jedi Knight), Arstos Velroc (Alive, Jedi Exile)

Biographical Summary: Centra Aethera Malvyst was born on the neutral-aligned world of Cotrim IV, an agri-world with sparse urban centers that fell under more Republic-aligned interests, near the Mid Rim. Her mother, Saev Malvyst, was a scholar and professor of galactic antiquital history at a nearby university, while her father was a commercial pilot that flew often to the Core Worlds. Growing up, Centra had a budding curiosity and a desire to learn about the enigmatic Jedi Order, who had a temple dedicated to training outside the city of Agora, where she lived. She worked in a museum dedicated to Jedi history since the age of twelve, becoming very proficient in curating and archiving history and artifacts. Her best friend was a Human male by the name of Zev Syros, who worked alongside Centra in the museum. The Museum caretaker was a former Jedi by the name of Arstos Velroc, who was cast out of the Order for extremism and a failure to adhere to the Jedi Code. Centra was often abused by Arstos for her love and adoration for the Jedi, both physical and emotionally. She was often corrected about the Jedi and their hubris, slapped and otherwise despised by Arstos constantly for his deep-set hatred for the Jedi after what he considered to be a betrayal of the soul. Centra reacted poorly to his mistreatment, and continued to work at the museum, quietly going about her curious fascination with the Jedi and their history. One day, at the height of the great war, a Republic Fleet entered the space above Cotrim IV. Separtist activity had skyrocketed since the Republic had been failing to protect worlds from the invasion of the Sith and their Imperial armies, and they decided it best to begin lashing out at their alleged defenders. Agora held a large separtist number, though the cell was mostly inactive and content with merely supplying the extremists with weapons and supplies. This inevitably caused the Republic to open fire on a mostly-civilian and non-combatant urban center, massacring thousands in the opening barrage. The Jedi came from their training temple to aid in what way they could, coming across the ruins of the museum that Centra and Zev worked at. The mass bombardment caused the ceiling to collapse, trapping the two teens beneath the rubble. The Jedi found Zev, and sensed a connection in the Force with him, and whisked him away to be trained before the Sith arrived, as their warfleet had just entered the system. They left Centra to die beneath the rubble, Arstos even coming across her, and leaving her to her fate. Centra Malvyst spent days beneath the ruined structure of the Jedi museum, unaware that her mother had been killed by the orbital bombardment as well. She could only fixate on the pain that coursed through her shattered body, the deep-set hatred that coursed through her veins like molten fire. After six days of agonizing pain, sustaining herself only through sheer hatred and willpower, did the Imperial Army discover her when they swept through the city. Darth Vestis sensed within the teen an innate connection with the Darkside, festering and developing through her pain and betrayal. Impressed with her survival and sheer conviction, he had her immediately treated by Imperial Doctors as they occupied the city, and then shipped straight to Korriban to the Sith Academy. Centra’s time on Korriban was full of hatred and bloodshed. She picked up with a class of sixteen students, all of which were stronger, and more powerful than her with the Force. One of them was even the son of a prominent Darth by the name of Darth Castora, of the Sphere of Diplomacy and Expansion. Centra, whose survival instincts were unmatched by any of the students, had the most difficult time progressing through the Academy, yet was the only one of her peers to survive the grueling trials and challenges. Though nothing was proven, the Overseers watched Centra methodically and systematically murdered each of the other students with tactful success, with the ability to seemingly be in two places at once, or even orchestrate what appeared to be a completely unlikely, yet fatal accident. Having graduated from the Sith Academy with high marks and recommendations from her Overseers, she was then picked up by Lord Murmora of the Novus Dominion, attending yet another grueling and harrowing experience on the planet of Ashass Ree.

"I remember who I used to be before I became who I had to be to survive."

#swtor #swtor rp #sith #sith inquisitor #centra malvyst #art is mine

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hoanvu-2016-us · 5 years ago

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Đại dịch Vũ Hán: đảng CSTQ và nhu cầu cải tổ công pháp quốc tế

(bởi adminTD, 04/04/2020)

LS Đào Tăng Dực, 4-4-2020

(truy cập từ https://baotiengdan.com/2020/04/04/dai-dich-vu-han-dang-cstq-va-nhu-cau-cai-to-cong-phap-quoc-te/)

Nhân loại đương đại đã trải qua nhiều thảm họa lớn lao. Hai cuộc thế chiến thứ nhất (1914 – 1918) và thứ hai (1939 – 1945), cuộc khủng hoảng kinh tế toàn cầu (1929 – 1933), các tội khủng bố và diệt chủng của Hitler và Đức quốc xã, các tội khủng bố, chống nhân loại và diệt chủng của Stalin, Mao Trạch Đông và Polpot…

Đại dịch virus Vũ Hán là một trong những thảm họa lớn lao của nhân loại. Số người nhiễm bệnh lên đến hàng trăm ngàn và nhanh chóng đến hàng triệu. Số người tử vong hàng chục ngàn và trên đà nhanh chóng lên đến hàng trăm ngàn hoặc hàng triệu. Virus Vũ Hán có tiềm năng gieo rắc tang thương cho nhân loại vượt ra ngoài sức tưởng tượng của chúng ta. Virus này tàn độc vì không những nó giết con người, mà còn giết cả nền tảng kinh tế của nhân loại.

Tại Úc Đại Lợi, một trong những quốc gia trù phú nhất thế giới, tình trạng kinh tế trở nên vô cùng tệ hại. Chính phủ chi ra hàng trăm tỷ để cứu vãn nền kinh tế quốc gia, kể cả trợ cấp 70% lương bổng của mỗi công nhân (1.500 Úc kim mỗi 2 tuần) hầu họ giữ được việc làm. Tại Hoa Kỳ và các quốc gia phát triển khác, đều có những biện pháp tương tự.

Tại các quốc gia nghèo hơn như Ấn Độ, tình trạng bi thảm hơn nhiều. Hàng ngàn người tử vong và triệu người trên thế giới thất nghiệp rơi vào cảnh thiếu ăn và màn trời chiếu đất.

Trên nguyên tắc, các cá nhân (Tập Cận Bình và đồng lõa) và tập thể (đảng CSTQ [cộng sản Trung quốc] và chính quyền Trung quốc) có thể phải chịu trách nhiệm về đại họa này vì họ đã cấu tạo đủ các yếu tố vi phạm các tội hình luật nghiêm trọng sau đây:

1. Tội khủng bố (terrorism): được định nghĩa như sử dụng bạo lực và sự đe dọa phi pháp, nhất là chống lại thường dân, hầu đạt đến những mục tiêu chính trị.

2. Tội nhà nước khủng bố (state terrorism): được định nghĩa như hành động khủng bố của một quốc gia đối với một quốc gia khác hoặc đối với chính những công dân của mình.

3. Tội ác chống nhân loại (crime against humanity): được định nghĩa như hành động cố tình nhằm tấn công một cách rộng rãi và có hệ thống chống lại bất cứ cá nhân dân sự hoặc một thành phần có thể nhận diện của quần chúng dân sự. Tội này bao gồm tội diệt chủng (genocide) được định nghĩa như giết hàng loạt một nhóm người chẳng hạn thuộc một dân tộc hay chủng tộc.

Tuy nhiên trên bình diện công pháp quốc tế, khả năng truy tố cá nhân và tập thể trên hầu như không có vì những lý do sau đây:

Sau đệ nhị thế chiến, trật tự thế giới qua những định chế như Liên hiệp quốc và hệ thống công pháp quốc tế không hoàn toàn đặt nền tảng trên công lý, mà phần lớn đặt nền tảng trên sức mạnh của kẻ chiến thắng. Chính vì thế, trên bình diện tích cực, chúng ta có bản Tuyên ngôn quốc tế nhân quyền và các văn bản liên hệ nói lên các bản giá trị nền tảng của các quốc gia dân chủ như Hoa Kỳ, Anh quốc, Pháp quốc.

Tuy nhiên trên bình diện tiêu cực, những quy ước về quyền phủ quyết của thành viên thường trực Hội đồng bảo an LHQ (bao gồm Hoa Kỳ, Liên Xô, Anh quốc, Pháp và Trung Hoa Dân quốc), cũng như sự dung dưỡng và củng cố khái niệm chủ quyền quốc gia (state sovereignty) hoặc chính xác hơn trên phương diện pháp lý là “chủ quyền tối thượng quốc gia” lại là sự nhượng bộ đáng tiếc của Hoa Kỳ và thế giới tự do cho đảng cộng sản Liên Xô sau năm 1945. Sự nhượng bộ đáng tiếc này trở nên tệ hại hơn sau khi Đại hội đồng LHQ năm 1971 quyết định cho Trung cộng thay thế vị trí của Trung Hoa Dân quốc (tức Đài Loan) trong Hội đồng bảo an LHQ.

Một cách vắn tắt tính tối thượng của quốc gia bao gồm các yếu tố pháp lý sau đây:

1. Thường hằng

2. Độc quyền

3. Bao quát

4. Bất biến

5. Bất khả phân ly và

6. Tuyệt đối.

Trở lực lớn lao cho nền công lý thế giới là khái niệm chủ quyền tối thượng quốc gia này với 6 yếu tính nêu trên.

Những nhà độc tài và các đảng toàn trị trên thế giới luôn núp bóng chính quyền và qua chính quyền này họ được sự bảo vệ tuyệt đối của khái niệm chủ quyền tối thượng quốc gia nêu trên nên hoàn toàn được miễn nhiễm và không thể bị truy tố.

Dĩ nhiên, trên đời này, không có gì là tuyệt đối.

Trên phương diện luật công ty (corporations law), cá nhân những cổ đông viên hay thành viên hội đồng quản trị thường núp sau tư cách pháp nhân (legal personality) riêng rẽ của các công ty hầu tránh những trách nhiệm dân sự (về hộ) nhất là bồi thường thiệt hại, tương tự như các tội phạm núp bóng khái niệm chủ quyền tối thượng quốc gia.

Tuy nhiên, tại các quốc gia pháp trị Tây phương đã có những luật lệ chấn chỉnh khuyết điểm này qua khái niệm “chọc thủng hoặc vén bức màn công ty” (piercing or lifting the corporate veil) hầu truy tố các cá nhân phạm tội gian lận hoặc cố tình gây thiệt hại cho phúc lợi cộng đồng.

Ngay cả chính ý niệm quyền tối thượng quốc gia cũng có tiền lệ bị chọc thủng khi Đồng minh dựng lên tòa án Nuremberg (1945 – 1949) để xử các tòng phạm của Hitler hoặc tòa án Khmer rouge (1979) do chính quyền Cam-bốt thành lập với sự đồng thuận của Liên hiệp quốc xử các tòng phạm của Polpot. Sự khác biệt dĩ nhiên là sau khi 2 chế độ khát máu đó sụp đổ.

Sự kết án về hình luật sẽ có những hậu quả về dân luật (tức hộ) là bồi thường thiệt hại. Trong trường hợp đó, các nạn nhân có thể đòi bồi thường thiệt hại nếu các bị cáo lãnh án như Tập Cận Bình hoặc đảng CSTQ.

Liên hệ đến vấn nạn quan trọng này, ngày 25 tháng 3 vừa qua, tổng trưởng ngoại giao Hoa Kỳ, Mike Pompeo, đã lên tiếng tố cáo các viên chức Trung cộng đã làm nguy hại sinh mạng hàng ngàn người khi họ dấu diếm tin tức về đại dịch Vũ Hán và cho rằng các công dân TQ có thể quy trách nhiệm cho lãnh đạo của họ về tai họa này.

Mới đây, một nhóm công dân Hoa Kỳ, qua công ty luật Berman law group, vừa khởi kiện Trung quốc liên hệ đến đại dịch Vũ Hán này, tại tòa án Hoa Kỳ.

Đã đến lúc công pháp quốc tế cần phải được tu chính sâu rộng hầu trong trường hợp các tội ác lớn lao như khủng bố, chính quyền khủng bố, tội ác chống nhân loại hoặc tội diệt chủng thì khái niệm “chọc thủng hoặc vén bức màn chủ quyền tối thượng quốc gia” (piercing or lifting the veil of the supreme state sovereignty) sẽ được kích hoạt, hầu các tên độc tài khát máu hoặc các tập thể tội phạm như các đảng cộng sản trên thế giới, phải chịu tội trước một pháp đình và công pháp quốc tế nghiêm minh.

_____

The Wuhan pandemic: The Chinese communist party and the need for reform of the international law

(Zuc) Tang Duc Dao, solicitor

Modern humankind has gone through great disasters. The First World War (1914-1918) and the Second World War (1939-1945), the Great Depression (1929-1933), terrorism and genocides of Hitler and Nazi Germany, terrorism, crimes against humanity and genocides of Stalin, Mao Tse Tung and Polpot…

The Wuhan Pandemic ranks among these great disasters of humankind.

The number of infected individuals amounts to hundreds of thousands and marching fast to millions. Fatalities amount to tens of thousands and marching fast to hundreds of thousands or millions. The Wuhan Virus has the potential to sow suffering among humanity beyond our imagination.

This virus is virulent not only because it kills humans but also because it kills the very foundation of the human economy.

In Australia, one of the most prosperous nations of the world, the economy has been hit hard. The government has to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to rescue the economy, including subsidizing 70% of wages of each employee (AD$1500 each fortnight) to keep their jobs. In the USA and other developed countries similar measures are being taken.

In poorer nations such as India, the situation is dire.

Thousands of fatalities and millions of unemployed people in the world find themselves without food and shelter.

In principle, individuals (Xi Jinping and cohorts) and groups (the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government) may have to be held responsible for this calamity because they have constituted the required elements for the commission of the following grave criminal offences:

1. Terrorism: defined as the use of violence and unlawful intimidation in particular against civilians in order to achieve political objectives

2. State terrorism: defined as the practise of terrorism of one state against another state or against its own citizens.

3. Crime against humanity: defined as an act intentionally aimed at attacking widely and systematically any individual civilian or an identifiable group of the civilian population. This crime includes genocide defined as the mass killing of groups of people, for instance pertaining to a nation of ethnic group.

However, under international law, the chances of prosecuting the above individuals and groups are non-existent due to the following reasons:

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the world order through institutions such as the United Nations and the system of international law is not wholly bases on the foundation of justice, but largely on the might of the victors. In consequence, on the positive side, we have the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related documents encapsulating basic values of democratic nations such as the USA, Great Britain and France.

But on the negative side, conventions such as the veto power of each permanent member of the Security Council of the UN (including the USA, the Soviet Union, Great Britain and the Republic of China) as well as the maintenance and consolidation of the concept of state sovereignty or more precisely on the legal plane the concept of “supreme state sovereignty” are regrettable concessions by the USA and the free world to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union after 1945. This regrettable concession worsened when the General Assembly of the UN in 1971 resolved to replace the seat of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in the Security Council with that of Communist China.

In short, the supremacy of state sovereignty comprises the following legal characteristics:

1. Permanence 2. Exclusiveness 3. All-encompassing 4. Unchanging 5. Indivisibility 6. Absoluteness

The great impediment to international justice is this very concept of supreme state sovereignty and the above 6 characteristics.

Dictators and totalitarian political parties in the world take refuge under the shield of governments and through these governments they are granted absolute protection pursuant to the concept of supreme state sovereignty, thus immunity from prosecution.

Evidently, nothing is absolute in the world.

In the area of Corporations law, the individual shareholders or members of the board of directors may hide behind the separate legal personalities of their companies in order to dodge civil responsibilities, especially damages, similar to the above criminals hiding behind the concept of supreme state sovereignty.

However, in Western nations under the rule of law, there are laws to rectify this anomaly through the concept of “piercing or lifting the corporate veil” and prosecute individuals in cases of fraud or intentional damage to the public good.

Even the concept of supreme state sovereignty had previously been pierced when the Allies set up the Nuremberg Tribunal (1945-1949) to adjudicate on the Hitler cohorts or the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (1979) set up by the Cambodian government with the cooperation of the United Nations to adjudicate on the Polpot cohorts. The obvious difference is that these two blood-thirsty regimes had been eliminated prior.

Criminal convictions will lead to civil consequences for damages. In these circumstances, victims can sue for damages from convicted individuals such as Xi Jinping or the Communist Party of China.

On this important issue, on 25 March, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleged that Chinese officials risked the lives of thousands of people when they covered up information about the Wuhan pandemic and Chinese citizens should consider their leaders totally responsible for this calamity.

Recently a group of US citizens, through the Berman Law Group, have commenced legal action against China relative to the Wuhan Pandemic, in America.

It is now time to reform substantially the international law so that in cases of terrorism, state terrorism, crimes against humanity or genocide, the concept of “piercing or lifting the veil of supreme state sovereignty” could be activated, in order that blood-thirsty dictators or criminal groups such as communist parties in the world, must face their crimes in a just tribunal under international law.

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whittlebaggett8 · 6 years ago

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Does the Philippines’ War on Drugs Amount to Crimes Against Humanity?

Do the steps dedicated inside the Philippines’ so-termed “war on drugs” constitute crimes from humanity? This is a well timed and critical concern as the third anniversary of the election of President Rodrigo Duterte ways, and it has been extra than a 12 months considering the fact that the Intercontinental Prison Courtroom (ICC) very first introduced its preliminary assessment into the war on medications marketing campaign launched by the Philippine authorities.

The investigation facilities on the hundreds of drug people that have been killed in alleged “clashes involving gangs” but also covers “extrajudicial killings in the class of law enforcement anti-drug operations.” Ascertaining exact info on fatalities in the drug war is tricky, with estimates ranging from 5,000 up to 27,000 folks. On the other hand, the Philippine Supreme Courtroom ruled in early April 2019 that the govt solicitor common need to release files on the killings to human legal rights groups, so a much more precise whole could yet come to light.

What Constitutes Crimes Versus Humanity?

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To evaluate whether crimes against humanity – as defined in the 1998 Rome Statute of the Worldwide Felony Courtroom – are having put, 4 preconditions have to have to be fulfilled. As Leila Sadat explains, these are, “the commission of the crime as part of a ‘widespread or systematic attack’ from a civilian population with know-how of the attack” [directed against any civilian population] and involving “a course of carry out involving the several fee of acts… from any civilian inhabitants, pursuant to or in furtherance of a Point out or organizational policy to dedicate this sort of attack.”

Sadat argues this kind of standards “are non-controversial with the exception of the ‘State or organizational policy’ aspect.” On a single hand, the function of the point out or coverage allows distinguish crimes towards humanity from an advert-hoc accumulation of functions but on the other, there is disagreement more than whether or not the assaults require to be widespread or systematic or prevalent and systematic.

As Darryl Robinson notes, the option is established out in paragraph 2 (a) of the Rome Statute. This states that the “attack directed versus any civilian populace indicates a course of carry out involving the various commission of functions referred to in paragraph 1 versus any civilian population, pursuant to or in furtherance of a Point out or organizational coverage to commit these types of attack.”

The purpose of a governing administration is thus vital. As legal students argue, the steps have to “form part of a plan by a government… or is tolerated, condoned, or acquiesced in by the aforementioned government.” Breaking this down via focusing on extrajudicial killings and vigilante justice, the course of action of dehumanization, and the exaggeration of danger, it can be argued that Duterte’s authorities has directed the attack in opposition to drug end users.

Extrajudicial Killings

Duterte’s present-day tactic can be traced again to his time as mayor of Davao Metropolis. He has in point invoked this legacy. On the eve of the 2016 election, Duterte explained to a 300,000 potent crowd, “If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, holdup adult men, and do-nothings, you much better get out due to the fact I’ll eliminate you.” This is just just one of quite a few statements in which Duterte features of his “shoot to kill coverage.” It is not just that the federal government is condoning murder it is overtly championing it.

When investigating disappearances and summary executions in 2006, UN particular rapporteur Philip Alston noted that in Davao Town – where Duterte was mayor at the time – a “death squad” operated with its users “routinely killing street children and other folks in broad daylight.” Independently of this, the Philippine Fee on Human Rights (CHR), which was chaired by lengthy-standing critic of Duterte, Senator Leila de Lima, raised very similar fears to the Business office of the Ombudsman. As of August 2016, the CHR had investigated 227 issues of alleged extrajudicial or politically determined killings, but as a mere simple fact-getting agency it was ready to do little additional than this, specifically in light-weight of Duterte’s threats to dissolve the body if it continued its criticism of his drug war. The sheer selection of issues would, if investigated effectively, enable evidence the need of “widespread” or “systematic” in the lawful definition of crimes in opposition to humanity.

Dehumanization

Duterte’s regime has routinely argued that the war on drugs cannot represent crimes in opposition to humanity since drug consumers are not portion of humanity. This assists legitimize the murder of drug end users as they are depicted as subhuman. Responding to the allegations established forth by worldwide human rights groups and the UN in 2016, Duterte questioned, “What criminal offense towards humanity? In the 1st area, I’d like to be frank with you, are they [drug users] individuals? What is your definition of a human getting? Convey to me.”

This sentiment has been restated during the war on prescription drugs marketing campaign. Talking in 2017, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, claimed “drug lords, drug addicts” and “drug pushers” are “not humanity.” Political elites within just the governing administration have routinely upheld Duterte’s logic. Responding to the ICC’s preliminary examination in February 2018, Senate The greater part Floor leader Vicente Sotto III stated, “I feel that the charge just can’t be. When you say ‘crimes against humanity,’ who is the humanity getting talked about? Are drug pushers and stubborn drug customers considered element of humanity?” The statements underline that a central aspect of the government’s approach is to obstacle the concept that drug people are human.

Exaggeration of Risk

To further realize the “course of conduct” that underpins the “multiple commission of functions referred to in paragraph 1” it is crucial to review how Duterte exaggerates the threat posed by drug people. The recommendation that murdering individuals included with medicines is the only remedy to the difficulty has been justified by portraying drug end users as a risk to the country itself. Duterte said he had launched his bloody war on medications “because the sheer quantity of folks contaminated will pull my place down – it will destroy the future generation of Filipinos.”

The authorities results in a narrative of worry by portraying drug use as a illness that will unfold all over culture to the issue that it threatens the state’s really existence. At the identical time, Duterte’s govt manipulates statistics by conflating occasional buyers with addicts in get to exaggerate the threat. Duterte claims that 4 million drug “addicts” will “contaminate a different 10 million” in just four to 6 a long time. This forecast is dependent on an estimate that there ended up 1.7 million drug buyers in the Philippines in 2016, complied by the Perilous Prescription drugs Board (DDB), which operates less than the jurisdiction of the president. Duterte subsequently inflated this determine in spite of the actuality that all-around a million of those people identified in the authentic DDB estimate had been marijuana users and thus would be exempt from the figures if Duterte legalized it – as he proposed previously in his presidency.

Additionally, in accordance to the DDB survey, all over a 3rd of the 1.7 million users experienced consumed narcotics in the former 13 months, so all over again can rarely be characterised as addicts. When looking at the narrative remaining built around the danger posed by drug people, it is crucial to take note the relationship among dehumanization and exaggeration of threat. On 1 hand, the government tells the general public that drug users are zombie-like and cannot be rehabilitated. On the other, it speaks of drug consumers contaminating non-drug customers like a condition. These interrelated details reinforce the government’s information: in buy to address this risk, drug buyers must be killed.

Tying the a few themes alongside one another and considering the position of Duterte’s government in championing the murder of drug users, dehumanization, and the exaggeration of menace, it can be concluded that crimes against humanity are having spot. Although there will understandably be debates in excess of how lots of precisely have been killed, it is critical to remember the being familiar with of crimes towards humanity established out in the Rome Statute. As Darryl Robinson explains, “‘widespread’ is a high-threshold examination, requiring a substantial variety of victims and ‘massive, regular, huge-scale motion,’ whilst the phrase ‘course of conduct’ and the reference to several functions had been regarded as presenting a lower threshold.” This is specifically appropriate as Duterte’s routine has directed the mass murder of drug consumers.

Adrian Gallagher is Affiliate Professor in Global Relations at the College of Leeds and Co-Director of the European Centre for the Obligation to Protect. His investigation centres on mass violence. Co-authors Euan Raffle and Zain Maulana are also based in the School of Politics and Worldwide Research at the University of Leeds.

A detailed study paper which expands on these themes to examine the intercontinental responses to the Philippines’ drug war is published in The Pacific Evaluate. The Pacific evaluate is a journal targeted on the global interactions of the nations around the world of the Pacific Basin. It handles transnational political, stability, military, financial and cultural exchanges in in search of better being familiar with of the location.

The post Does the Philippines’ War on Drugs Amount to Crimes Against Humanity? appeared first on Defence Online.

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#ASEAN Beat #crimes against humanity #Duterte and the ICC #Duterte human rights #Duterte war on drugs

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luv-holly-blog1 · 7 years ago

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If Islam was a such a loving and peaceful religion why do we have o many islamic terrorists?

1. Fact: There are only about a total estimated 100,000 militant extremist Muslims in the world. That is less than 0.01% of the global Muslim population of 1.7 billion people. “The vast majority of the estimated 85,000 to 106,000 militants fighting with militant jihadist groups around the world are fighting for purely local reasons, for instance, trying to install Sharia law in northern Nigeria or trying to impose Taliban rule on Pakistan and Afghanistan, while only a small number of these militants are focused on attacking the West.”

Source: P. Bergen, National Security Analyst and E. Schneider, Research Associate: http://us.cnn.com/2014/09/26/opinion/bergen-schneider-how-many-jihadists/index.html

Interviewer: What are the root causes of terrorism?

"Unsolved political conflicts, frustration and, above all, ignorance. Nothing that was born out of a theological conflict …. Take away the causes of extremism and extremists can come back to a more reasonable political agenda. That change to me is one of the wonderful things about the human race."

– His Highness the Aga Khan, Spiegel Online Interview (2nd), ‘Islam Is a Faith of Reason’ (Berlin, Germany)

"[T]he Western tendency [is] to perceive all Muslims or their societies as a homogeneous mass of people living in some undefined theocratic space, a single “other” evolving elsewhere. And yet with a Muslim majority in some 44 countries and nearly a quarter of the globe’s population, it should be evident that [the Muslim] world cannot be made up of identical people, sharing identical goals, motivations or interpretations of the faith. It is a world in itself, vast and varied in its aspirations and in its concerns. Is there not something intellectually uncouth about those who choose to perceive one [and a half] billion people of any faith as a standardised mass? "

– His Highness the Aga Khan, Brown University Commencement Ceremony, 26 May 1996

2. Fact: According to terrorism experts and studies, religion in general and Islam in particular is NOT the main motivator of terrorism; in reality, political conflicts, warfare, and social and economic instability are the main cause.

“What 95 percent of all suicide attacks have in common, since 1980, is not religion, but a specific strategic motivation to respond to a military intervention, often specifically a military occupation, of territory that the terrorists view as their homeland or prize greatly. From Lebanon and the West Bank in the 80s and 90s, to Iraq and Afghanistan, and up through the Paris suicide attacks we’ve just experienced in the last days, military intervention—and specifically when the military intervention is occupying territory—that’s what prompts suicide terrorism more than anything else.”

– Robert Pape, who has Studied Every Suicide Attack in the World: https://www.thenation.com/article/heres-what-a-man-who-studied-every-suicide-attack-in-the-world-says-about-isiss-motives/

“ Far from being religious zealots, a large number of those involved in terrorism do not practise their faith regularly. Many lack religious literacy and could actually be regarded as religious novices. Very few have been brought up in strongly religious households, and there is a higher than average proportion of converts. Some are involved in drug-taking, drinking alcohol and visiting prostitutes. MI5 says there is evidence that a well-established religious identity actually protects against violent radicalisation.”

Source: MI5 Study: http://spiritualperception.org/the-tactics-of-bigotry/

“Religion is not the strongest driving force behind thousands of foreign fighters joining ISIS and other terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria, a report by US military researchers has found. A new study by the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point revealed that the vast majority of almost 1,200 militants surveyed had no formal religious education and had not adhered to Islam for their entire lives.”

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/isis-foreign-fighters-british-european-western-dying-radicalised-islam-not-strongest-factor-cultural-a7421711.html

“ A French journalist’s ISIS captors cared little about religion, Didier Francois — who spent over 10 months as the group’s prisoner in Syria — told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview on Tuesday. “There was never really discussion about texts or — it was not a religious discussion. It was a political discussion.” “It was more hammering what they were believing than teaching us about the Quran. Because it has nothing to do with the Quran.” “We didn’t even have the Quran; they didn’t want even to give us a Quran.”

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/03/intl_world/amanpour-didier-francois/

“ There is no theological dimension. Their knowledge of Islam is minimal and they don’t care, although the religious myth plays an emotional role.” “None of them was active in religious activities (proselytism): when they preach Islam it is to recruit other radicals, not to spread the good news. This explains why (1) the close monitoring of mosques brings little information; (2) imams have little or no influence on the process of radicalisation; (3) “reforming Islam” does not make sense: they just don’t care about ‘what Islam really means.’”

Source: https://newmatilda.com/2016/03/26/jihad-not-really-about-religion/

3. Fact: Most terror attacks in the Western world (Europe, USA) are committed by non-Muslims, yet terrorist attacks by Muslims receive 449% MORE MEDIA COVERAGE than other attacks from 2011-2015. This is per the findings of an academic study from Georgia State University quoted below:

“We examined news coverage from LexisNexis Academic and CNN.com for all terrorist attacks in the United States between 2011 and 2015. Controlling for target type, fatalities, and being arrested, attacks by Muslim perpetrators received, on average, 449% more coverage than other attacks. Given the disproportionate quantity of news coverage for these attacks, it is no wonder that people are afraid of the Muslim terrorist. More representative media coverage could help to bring public perception of terrorism in line with reality.”

Source: Kearns, Erin M. and Betus, Allison and Lemieux, Anthony, Why Do Some Terrorist Attacks Receive More Media Attention Than Others? (March 5, 2017). Available at SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2928138

DataGraver has documented the number and location of terrorist attacks from 1970-2015 and the results clearly show that most terrorism was not committed by Muslims and occurred in Western Europe, Central America and South America for much of the past until recently increasing in the Middle East – this being due to increased war, military intervention, and instability in the region beginning with the Gulf War and increasing since then:

4. Fact: The biggest victims of Terrorism ARE Muslims: "...Muslims are the most affected by terrorism around the world...While attacks by Muslims against non-Muslims in Europe have dominated headlines recently, researchers from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), a research and education center at the University of Maryland, believe that Muslims are in fact the most likely victims of terrorism worldwide. START Executive Director William Braniff and his team studied the causes and human consequences of terrorism, compiling details about attacks...What they found is that — although they did not always have information about the religious beliefs of the victims — Muslims were the most affected overall."

Source: – National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START): http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/muslims-absolutely-group-victimized-global-terrorism-researchers/story?id=48131273

The biggest victims of ISIS and Al-Qaeda ARE Muslims; and not surprisingly, the overwhelming majority of Muslims hate ISIS and al-Qaeda. To say otherwise – to claim that substantial numbers of Muslims support ISIS and other terror groups is like saying that most murder victims support their murderers, or that most rape victims support their rapists and in fact want to emulate them. According to a UN Report, ISIS “carried out attacks deliberately and systematically targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, with the intention of killing and wounding civilians.” The UN concluded that in the first eight months of 2014, at least 9,347 civilians had been killed and at least 17,386 wounded. While all these deaths are not attributable to ISIS alone, ISIS is identified as the primary actor.”

Source – UN Report: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/07/isis-s-gruesome-muslim-death-toll.html

5. Fact: The overwhelming majority of U.S. Muslims (78%) stated that it is never morally justifiable to target and kill civilians;

Meanwhile, only 38% of Protestants, 39% of Catholics, 43% of Jews, 33% of Mormons, and 56% of people with no religion/atheists/agnostics stated that it is never morally justifiable to target and kill civilians.

Source: Gallup Poll – https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/08/a-fascinating-look-at-the-political-views-of-muslim-americans/242975/

6. Fact: Muslims out of many other religious groups are MOST LIKELY to be against attacks on civilians and LEAST LIKELY to support violence against innocent people. Source: Pew, Gallup and Populus Polls aggregated here: http://www.loonwatch.com/2011/08/surveys-show-muslims-in-every-country-less-likely-to-justify-killing-civilians-than-americans-and-israelis/

“Muslims hold no monopoly on extremist views and are, in fact, on average more likely than American public to unequivocally condemn attacks on civilians.”

– John Esposito, (Who Speaks for Islam, 94)

Bill Maher et. al. Selectively Misrepresenting Poll Data:

A Pew Poll found that 86% of Muslims in Egypt and 76% of Muslims in Pakistan believe in the death penalty for apostasy and cite this as evidence of violent attitudes among Muslims. At the same time, it is hardly acknowledged that 82% of Muslims in Indonesia (the most populous Muslim country), 66% of Muslims in Bangladesh (the fourth most population Muslim country), and 83% of Muslims in Turkey are opposed to the death penalty for apostates.

What is Apostasy? Some people claim that all Muslims and the Qur’an believe that anyone who changes his religion from Islam to another religion are guilty of apostasy and should be killed. Let it be very clear that the Qur’an contains no such law. The Qur’an repeatedly mentions: “There is no compulsion in religion” (2:256), and “Let him who will believe and let him who will disbelieve”(18:29). The definition of “apostasy” in Islamic legal discourse is not about changing one’s personal faith or religion; apostasy is a political construct of pre-modern Muslim empires and meant treason against the imperial state and supporting another empire (like the Byzantines). More on this here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kashif-n-chaudhry/does-the-koran-endorse-ap_b_5539236.html and here: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/05/islam-saudi-apostasy-201458142128717473.html

" You would think that an educated person in the 21st century should know something about Islam; but you look at education in the Western world and you see that Islamic civilizations have been absent. What is taught about Islam? As far as I know -- nothing. What was known about Shiism before the Iranian revolution? What was known about the radical Sunni Wahhabism before the rise of the Taliban? We need a big educational effort to overcome this. Rather than shouting at each other, we should be learning to listen to each other. In the way we used to do it, by working together, with mutual give-and-take. Together we brought about some of the highest achievements of human civilization. There is a lot to build on. But I think you cannot build on ignorance."

- His Highness the Aga Khan, Spiegel Online Interview (2nd), ‘Islam Is a Faith of Reason’ (Berlin, Germany)

“The argument that religion causes violence sanctions a dichotomy between, on the one hand, non-Western, especially Muslim, forms of culture, which – having not yet learned to privatize matters of faith – are absolutist, divisive, and irrational, and Western culture, on the other, which is modest in its claims to truth, unitive and rational. This dichotomy, this clash-of-civilisations worldview, in turn can be used to legitimate the use of violence against those with whom it is impossible to reason on our own terms. In short, their violence is fanatical and uncontrolled; our violence is controlled, reasonable, and often regrettably necessary to contain their violence.”

- William Cavanaugh, The Myth of Religious Violence, 17

#love #quran #islam

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trendingnewsb · 8 years ago

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Bashar al-Assad trained as a doctor. How did he become a mass murderer? | Ranjana Srivastava

The Syrian president isnt the first doctor to kill. But there is something galling about someone who is trained to save lives taking them instead

Preparing dinner, I bite my tongue as images of the latest atrocity in Syria flashes on the screen.

Isnt he a doctor too? my daughter asks.

Yes, I cringe at the too and rededicate myself to the carrots.

But she knows that conversations about medicine are usually far more animated in our household and immediately sniffs out my reticence.

I dont get it. Arent doctors supposed to help people?

Since its too late to switch channels, I say something benign. But the footage continues, leaving her to conclude, I guess not all doctors save lives.

The heart-wrenchingly succinct statement goes to the heart of my own dismay at the appalling crisis in Syria. More than 400,000 dead, most recently in a nerve gas attack. Six million citizens internally displaced. Five million refugees fled to neighbouring countries. An entire country in spasms. And to add to the unspeakable tragedy, at the hands of a president who used to be a doctor. Not just a theoretical doctor, not one of those who enrolled in medical school but never touched a patient. No, Bashar al-Assad was a proper doctor who by all accounts was personable and polite.

A doctor who studied first at the prestigious Damascus University, then committed to post-graduate training and finally went to London to gain further experience in ophthalmology, a niche medical specialty with many aspirants and limited places. A doctor whose boss recalled him as humble and whom nurses thought exemplary in reassuring anxious patients about to undergo anaesthetic.

To his medical class he was unassuming, seemingly unaffected by his status. Perhaps he had secured admission in the way of other entitled offspring, through power and privilege, but he seemed to be at ease with the responsibilities of being a doctor.

Some classmates kept their distance, wary of the dictator-fathers long reach. Some suspected he didnt have it in him to be a leader, but then, the world needs good followers and it would have been quite normal for Assad to have settled in a leafy corner of London and practised his craft. Not necessarily groundbreaking stuff, but solid, dependable, everyday medicine that relieved the suffering of many. No one thought he would turn out a mass murderer.

Upon becoming president, he returned to London with his glamorous and accomplished wife, herself a cardiologists daughter, who presumably possessed insight into a doctors obligations. At his old eye hospital, he looked longingly at a slit-lamp and fondly recalled his medical training.

When he was recalled home, Syria was in the grips of a rebellion, Sunni fighting Shia against a backdrop of roiling tensions in the Middle East. Perhaps Assad, the urbane, London-educated ophthalmologist who spoke of Syrias own democratic experience, would be the peoples advocate, the agent of change. But alas, the Damascus spring didnt last and Assad the kindly doctor transformed into Assad the feared killer.

Revulsion at the horrific abuses perpetrated by the Nazi doctors Josef Mengele most infamous among them led to the development of the Nuremberg Code, which govern the ethics of human experimentation. Radovan Karadi was a psychiatrist and a poet before being convicted of genocide in the former Yugoslavia. British doctor Harold Shipman injected lethal drugs into more than 200 patients, and American cardiologist Conrad Murray was convicted of homicide after injecting Michael Jackson with the anaesthetic agent, propofol.

History has witnessed other doctors turned rogue but Assads attack on his own people is staggering by any standard. He has gone from bombing civilians to destroying entire hospitals, and whatever and whoever lies in their wake. Nearly 800 medical personnel have been killed and many others detained and tortured. Four hundred medical facilities lie in ruins, their hapless occupants either dead or badly injured.

Entire cities have been left without medical aid, turning treatable injuries into fatal wounds. The United Nations has pleaded that even war has rules but experts say that no previous war has witnessed such deliberate, systematic targeting of medical facilities and health professionals.

It defies belief, but in a way it makes sense, that a doctor who once felt the pulse of people, knows that the way to still that pulse is by aiming his strongest weapons at the hospitals that keep people alive and give them hope. It would take a doctor to predict the psychological devastation and desperate surrender of a people robbed of gauze for a bleeding wound, antibiotics for a festering sore, surgery for a lodged bullet.

There are interesting views on how someone who once pledged to save lives could so wantonly destroy them. Perhaps he is striving to prove himself to his dead father who had openly favoured his older son who died in a car accident while Assad was becoming an ophthalmologist. The younger Assad was teased for being interested in human blood rather than the blood of politics this is the revenge of the bullied.

Or more chillingly, all that medical training was just a show and behind the suave specialist lay a murderer who always had the measure of his power. Medical training necessarily inures doctors to pain and suffering: imagine how inefficient a doctor would be if he faltered at a patients every tear and cried over every wound. Part of becoming a good doctor is to learn to stand back enough to help, but most doctors experience a continual tightrope in maintaining a professional boundary while being empathetic. Perhaps Assad just dumped the empathy while fortifying the boundary.

Doctors around the world regard Assads deeds with dismay and horror. They know how many of their colleagues leave medicine for far, far smaller reasons than killing a patient. Most doctors cant bear having a stain on their conscience for missing a diagnosis or misprescribing a drug, never mind that the patient wasnt even hurt. Doctors take their own lives at the mere thought that they did something wrong. It beggars belief that someone who was once one of them could so systematically and remorselessly kill his own classmates and their patients.

History will diagnose Assad one day but in the meantime, when I see my Syrian patients I cant help wondering whether to just treat their illness or acknowledge their deeper wounds. Their fragility is obvious as is their concern and shame.

Assads crimes against humanity seem distant until they are personalised in the form of a son, a mother, a neighbour. The easiest answer is to feel helpless and stay silent but it just doesnt feel right. Another is to express solidarity with our fellow human beings even as they live unrecognisable lives in distant lands. This, too, can feel inadequate in the face of punitive government policies. A third is to support the courageous professionals and the organisations that are determined to stay put in Syria against the odds. Most of us wont go to Syria because we are not skilled or capable of working in dangerous and impoverished settings. But we can be effective through donating to credible charities, such as the Red Cross, The White Helmets and Mdecins Sans Frontires, who can channel our aid where it is needed.

Our gestures can seem insignificant in the face of so great a tragedy but I hope it says to the Syrian people that while their own doctor president has given up on them, the rest of the world has not.