A/HRC/24/46 1. Government and pro-government forces 41. Deaths in custody rose markedly. Deaths from torture were recorded in centres controlled by the Air Force, Political and General Intelligence and Military Security. Many cases were recorded in General Intelligence Branch 295, 20 km east of Damascus, and Branch 251, in Damascus. One former detainee held in the Al-Fehar Branch of Political Security in Al-Mezzeh (Damascus) barely survived. He detailed the deaths of others. Detainees were tortured to death in Military Security Branch 215 (Damascus). 42. Other unlawful killings included checkpoint shootings (Damascus, June), snipers killing civilians (Damascus countryside, June) and unlawful killing of civilians during ground operations (Homs, February, March, April and June; Hamah, February; Damascus countryside, June). 43. A “terrorism court” was established in Al-Mezzeh to hear cases that violate the 2012 Anti-Terrorism Law. Accused were not informed of the allegation, nor were they afforded timely access to counsel. The Government also established military field courts. No legal representation, family visits or appeals were allowed, yet judges may confer capital sentences. 44. Unlawful killing was perpetrated by government forces as part of widespread attacks directed against the civilian population. The attacks included widespread shelling of villages, the burning of civilian objects, sniper attacks and systematic executions (see annex II). The coordination and active participation of Government institutions indicated the attacks were institutionalized and conducted as a matter of policy. Unlawful killing occurring during such attacks were crimes against humanity. Government forces also committed the war crime of murder, carried out executions without affording due process and arbitrarily deprived the right to life. 2. Anti-government armed groups 45. On 8 June, ISIS fighters executed a 15-year-old boy, Mohamed Qatta, accused of blasphemy. 46. In June, an anti-government armed group killed a Catholic priest, Father François Murad, in Idlib. The priest was one of the only remaining Christians in the town of Ghassaniya. Jabhat Al-Nusra was active in Ghassaniya at the time. 47. Quasi-judicial mechanisms established by anti-government armed groups varied considerably across areas under their control. The lack of codified law led to an inconsistent administration of justice. Essential judicial and procedural guarantees were rarely accorded, and most judicial mechanisms did not reach the necessary level of independence and impartiality. 48. The punitive mechanisms established by some armed groups deny the right to counsel and the opportunity for appeal, given that executions were carried out immediately after sentencing. The close functional relationship between armed groups and courts compromised the independence and impartiality of the latter. 49. In Hamah, persons arrested or captured by armed brigades are transferred to one of two parallel quasi-judicial mechanisms, following military interrogation. The local security committee has jurisdiction over disputes between armed groups and minor criminal and civil offences. Serious cases, such as murder, are referred to the sharia committee in Bab Al-Hawa, Idlib. Those found guilty can be executed. A captured soldier or pro-government fighter who “confesses” faces immediate execution, without referral to the sharia committee. On 20 May, a captured soldier was executed in Qalat Al-Madiq after confessing to killing a fighter for the Free Syrian Army (FSA). 8