Newly released to Yahoo News: Syrian torture photos

The State Department obtained 27,000 photographs showing the emaciated, bruised and burned bodies of Syrian torture victims — gruesome images that a top official tells Yahoo News constitutes “smoking gun” evidence that can be used to bring war-crimes charges against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The photos are “horrific — some of them put you in visceral pain,” said Stephen J. Rapp, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes, in an interview. “This is some of the strongest evidence we’ve seen in the area of proof of the commission of mass atrocities.”

These photos –– newly released to Yahoo News –– were smuggled out of Syria by an official regime photographer who has since defected and is known only by his code name, Caesar. (Yahoo News)

Find more news-related pictures in our photo galleries and follow us on Tumblr!