Syria's civil registries recorded 68,000 deaths in the war-torn country in 2017, pro-regime daily Al-Watan reported its head as saying yesterday. "Last year, we confirmed 68,000 without specifying the nature of their death and 32,000 this year," civil registries chief Ahmad Rahal said. He did not provide any additional details about those who had died, including in what part of Syria they had lost their lives or whether they had been victims of the ongoing conflict.

The news come after activists accused authorities of quietly updating civil records to mark detainees in regime jails as "deceased" -- some backdated by several years. Human rights defenders say tens of thousands of Syrians are held in government jails across the country. Relatives and advocates say they are often tortured, denied a fair trial, and deprived of contact with their families. But Rahal said employees at the civil record did not have a "missing" box to tick.