The families of Palestinian refugees tortured to death in Syrian government dungeons have renewed calls to the Syrian government to release their relatives’ bodies so as to bury them in known cemeteries.

The Action Group for Palestinians of Syria (AGPS) quoted the victims’ families as holding the Palestinian factions and the Palestine Liberation Organization responsible for the fate of Palestinians secretly held and fatally tortured in Syrian lock-ups.

Activists said withholding dead bodies is another crime perpetrated by pro-government militias in Syria.

AGPS documented the death of 616 Palestinian refugees as a result of torture in Syrian government prisons, among them 77 victims identified in photos leaked by the so-called activist Caesar.

Withholding the bodies of slain civilians is prohibited under international law, except in cases where pillage and mistreatment are feared to occur. The Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Convention, and the Rome Statute consider the despoliation and mistreatment of dead bodies war crimes.