Damascus has dismissed as "completely untrue" a report alleging that the government executed as many as 13,000 people at a military prison in the four years after Syria’s popular uprising descended into civil war.
In a statement carried out by state media on February 8, the Justice Ministry said "misleading and inciting" media outlets carried the Amnesty International report with the intention to smear the government's reputation on the world stage.
It also said executions in Syria follow due process and various stages of litigations.
In its February 7 report, the London-based group said 20 to 50 people, many of them civilian opposition supporters, were hanged each week at the Saydnaya prison near Damascus between September 2011 and December 2015.
It said the hangings took place after military trials that lasted minutes, adding that they probably are still being carried out and amount to war crimes.