A/HRC/21/50 II. Anti-Government armed groups 27. The commission conducted 15 interviews relating to the treatment of members of Government forces and Shabbiha by anti-Government armed groups. All interviewees claimed to be members of these armed groups. 28. All 15 interviews detail the capture, interrogation and either release or execution of those detained.b Interviewees stated that those captured were offered the chance to join antiGovernment forces. Those that did not were reportedly either executed or were used as part of an exchange for captured anti-Government fighters. 29. One individual, a member of an anti-Government armed group in Idlib governorate, stated that those who did not wish to join the anti-Government forces were imprisoned. Two other anti-Government fighters stated that makeshift detention centres had been set up in the Bab Amr and El Khaldiyah neighbourhoods in Homs. The commission also notes that the majority of those interviewed claimed that those who refused to join the antiGovernment armed groups were executed, in part because the groups had no means of housing and providing for prisoners. 30. Three of those interviewed stated that captured Government fighters and Shabbiha were tortured as part of an interrogation which took place before execution. One interviewee admitted that captured members of Government forces were beaten with electric wire and were threatened with drowning, with their heads forced in and out of water. 31. The commission has also received information indicating that Syrian security forces and/or their alleged supporters caught by the anti-Government armed groups have confessed under torture. Many of the video recordings of alleged incidents show those captured with signs of physical abuse, including bruising and bleeding. Two Iranians, held in late January 2012 and released in late April 2012, later made public statements about physical abuse suffered, including the breaking of bones, during their captivity. The commission could not verify those video recordings. Legal conclusions 32. The commission finds there are reasonable grounds to believe that torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment have been committed by anti-Government armed groups during interrogations of captured members of Government forces and Shabbiha. The commission determines that severe pain was inflicted to punish, humiliate or to extract information from detainees. 33. The commission determines, however, that the acts of torture were not committed as part of either a widespread or systematic attack on a civilian population. Therefore, they do not constitute crimes against humanity but may be prosecutable as war crimes. b 90 See annex V.