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A/HRC/31/CRP.1 15 80. Brutal executions carried out in public, sometimes of a retaliatory character, are common in ISIS-controlled areas. Fighters enforced the death sentences issued by ISIS courts in an open display of brutality.8 Victims were frequently beheaded. In a few cases, victims were pushed off the roof of tall buildings as a means of execution. Others were executed in public by gunshot. Video footage of the crimes is commonly displayed on the Internet as an instrument of propaganda and terror. 81. ISIS has also perpetrated a number of massacres of captured Government soldiers. In Tabqa (Ar-Raqqah) 200 government soldiers were captured after ISIS overran an airbase outside the city in August 2014. On 23 August 2014, over 200 of the men were stripped to their underwear, and marched into the desert before being shot to death. 82. ISIS also engaged in hostage taking resulting in killing of the victims. Other groups also sold hostages to ISIS. A young Government soldier was identified in the video showing the beheading of army soldiers, published by ISIS on or around 18 November 2014. Kidnapped by a group claiming to be Jabhat Al-Islam late June 2014, his family failed to pay the ransom demanded. They later learned that their son was surrendered to ISIS. The video of the beheading surfaced a few weeks later. X. Legal Findings and Conclusions 83. Many parties to the Syrian conflict have committed serious violations of the rights of detainees, including the right to life. Further crimes and violations have ensued in the context of arrests, imprisonment and other forms of deprivation of liberty. Based on the findings in this report, the commission makes the following legal conclusions: Government of the Syrian Arab Republic Human rights violations 84. In their treatment of detainees, the conduct of Government forces amounts to violations of the right to life through the commission of or failure to prevent killings, summary executions, and implementation of the death penalty without a fair trial. The Government has furthermore violated the right to life by failing to conduct independent, comprehensive and transparent investigations of each individual death in State custody. 85. Government forces and agencies in control of detention facilities are responsible for torture, degrading and inhuman treatment including rape and other forms of sexual violence. 86. Detainees in State custody were subjected to arbitrary or unlawful detention as they were held for prolonged periods without access to a lawyer or afforded the opportunity to legally challenge the bases of their detention. Other detentions of civilians were rendered arbitrary or unlawful as their main purpose appears to have been to punish or obtain information through the use of torture. Information obtained from detainees under duress, including during the use of torture or threats of rape or other violence against family members, was frequently used as grounds for the arrest and detention of others, in violation of international human rights law. 8 Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, “Rule of Terror: Living under ISIS in Syria”, 14 November 2014