Syrian defector urges Trump to stop machinery of death

The Syrian defector who smuggled out tens of thousands of photos of people allegedly tortured to death in Assad regime jails has urged U.S. President Donald Trump to stop the machinery of death.

In an exclusive interview with CNN, the defector urged the U.S. President to stop what he calls the "criminality" taking place in Syria's government-run prisons.

"We have shown the killing and torture of so many of the Syrian people and you cannot give back the lives to those that have lost it. But we ask you, out of your humanity, to stop the machinery of death. We are asking to all the officials, to all the policy makers, to President Trump's White House, which we are hoping will do the right thing, we beg you to stop the machinery of death in Syria," said the Syrian defector.

Worked as a photographer for the Syrian military police in Damascus, the defector smuggled trove of photos.

At the time, a team of internationally renowned war crimes prosecutors and forensic experts who analyzed the photos found evidence of "systematic torture and killing" by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.