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A/HRC/22/59 56 GE.13-10627 closest son in the head killing him instantly. He then turned on the second son and killed him. Damascus 11. In a case detailed in document A/HRC/22/59, annex XII, during a house raid conducted allegedly by military intelligence personnel in July in Damascus, a women and two children were killed as they attempted to prevent the arrest of their family member. Findings 12. Government forces and affiliated militias have committed extra-judicial executions, breaching international human rights law. This conduct also constitutes the war crime of murder. Where murder was committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population, with knowledge of that attack, it is a crime against humanity. Anti-Government armed groups 13. There have been increased reports of anti-Government armed groups killing captured Government soldiers or those they believe to have collaborated with the Government. Most of the accounts collected during this reporting period emanated from Damascus and Aleppo governorates. Several interviewees also spoke about killings in Homs and Dayr az Zawr. 14. The killing of five members of the Al-Berri clan in Aleppo and the killing of five Alawite soldiers in Latakia constitute massacres and are discussed above. 15. As the state law enforcement and justice system have disintegrated in certain areas of the country, anti-Government armed groups have turned to enduring social structures, often based around religious institutions, to fill the lacunae. Eighteen interviewees indicated that detainees had appeared before such “tribunals”, which had ordered their executions. 16. Common Article 3 prohibits the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees, which are recognised under international law. The collected information indicates that persons who are detained by anti-Government armed groups are not afforded the judicial guarantees recognized under international law to which they are entitled. According to insider accounts, courts and tribunals are being established on an ad hoc basis in areas in which anti-Government armed groups are able to establish sufficient control. A mix of imams and judges who have defected run the courts, applying a hybrid of Syrian criminal and Islamic law. The accused are not afforded a right to appeal and are not provided or allowed a defense. As a result, detainees who face this quasi-judicial system are often deprived of contact with the outside world, making it difficult if not impossible for their families to know of their fate and for humanitarian organisations to track their whereabouts. 17. Consistent accounts paint a punitive quasi-judicial system in which the participation in hostilities is punishable by death. Detainees who are affiliated with the Government but have taken no direct part in hostilities are released. Anti-Government armed groups also appear to be heavily involved in this process, operating “interrogation committees” that present the evidence against the accused to the court. There is strong evidence that indicates that detainees are tortured during the interrogation process. In failing to meet the standards under international law for regularly constituted courts and judicial guarantees, th