Abdullah al-Khalil's bulldozed home in al-Rikka
Syria remains engulfed in a spiraling campaign of crimes against humanity. Since last March, thousands of men, women and children were either shot dead or maimed on the streets or in their homes, tortured or detained by the army, the Intelligence and security services and the so-called "Shabiha" militia.
Regime loyalists continue singling out overseas dissidents for threats and reprisals.
The crimes against unarmed people are well documented in thousands of videos posted on the web. Not so the "innovative" repression used to quash the revolt against the regime.
Shooting donkeys
Mangling mopeds
Of late, for instance, government forces bulldozed the al-Rikka home of lawyer and human rights activist Abdullah al-Khalil, who was arrested in mid-December. He was later warned olive trees at his farm would be uprooted next if he did not stop offering activists free legal counsel. Abdullah al-Khalil applied to run for president in the 2007 campaign, when Bashar al-Assad was reelected for a second term in a referendum without another candidate.
Two earlier videos show soldiers shooting a herd of donkeys and an army tank crushing scores of mopeds to deny regime opponents any means of transportation in areas of unrest.
