The United Nations chief human rights official said Friday that there was evidence of widespread human rights abuses including torture and killings by Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime. But the International Criminal Court says it has no jurisdiction to investigate.

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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said that her body had drawn up a list of 50 Syrians in senior positions that she said were responsible for violent repression.

She said she had asked the UN Security Council to refer the allegations to the ICC but admitted that she was "not optimistic" as many member states would prefer to put Damascus under diplomatic pressure.

No jurisdiction
The ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo said on Friday that he had received complaints from various parties alleging that crimes against humanity, including arbitrary detentions, killings of peaceful demonstrators and torture are being committed in Syria.

Ocampo said in a statement that at this stage he has no jurisdiction to investigate these allegations because Syria is not a State Party to the Rome Statute which governs the ICC.

Neither has Syria accepted jurisdiction of the Court. The UN Security Council however has the authority to refer the situation in Syria to the ICC if it considers that justice will contribute to establishing peace and security in Syria.

Human Rights Council
Pillay said the UN Human Rights Council would meet on Monday to see if member states on this less senior body could agree on action to take.

Although Syria has not ratified the ICC statutes and thus theoretically is not subject to investigation by the court, precedents have recently been set in Darfur and Libya for the Security Council to demand action.

Syria is in the grip of a violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests, and Assad's regime is facing international diplomatic pressure -- backed with sanctions -- to reform his rule or step down.

Damascus did respond to a questionnaire sent by the UN, and admitted 1,900 had died in the protests, insisting this figure includes 350 members of the security forces and blaming violence on criminal and extremists.

But Pillay said the regime had provided no evidence to support its claims.