The Syrian authorities asserted that the released images are a pure and simple fake, having no relation to prisoners held in the Syrian government custody. Besides, some of the photos were said to be of «foreign terrorists."
The Justice Ministry’s official statements explained that, apart from the photos of "foreign terrorists," other individuals’ dead bodies, which can be seen on the pictures, belong to "civilians and military personnel who were killed as a result of torture by armed terrorist groups because they were accused of being pro-state”.
The report was prepared by a team of internationally renowned legal and forensic experts and is based on the scrutiny of thousands of digital pictures provided by a Syrian defector, claiming to have been a photographer at a military hospital that received dead bodies from detention centers.
However, Ministry officials seriously doubt the credibility of the photographer who said that he was "a fugitive who fled Syria and who was already facing legal action," and raise a question of how, if that is the case, he would have got the necessary documents to leave the country.
The government of Qatar was partly sponsoring the experts’ investigation by providing the British law firm Carter-Ruck with funds to write the report. It’s worth mentioning that Qatar and Saudi Arabia provide most of the outside support for Syria's rebel forces.
The Syrian Justice Ministry accused the law firm of a lack of professionalism and reminded it was "known to have direct ties with countries that are hostile to the Syrian Arab Republic since the start of the crisis."
The Justice Ministry’s response, coming in just ahead of the Geneva-2 conference, also suggested that the timing of the publication of the report and photos was chosen by no accident, unveiling their "true purpose” – that of undermining the peace talks starting in Montreux, Switzerland, on January 22.
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