U.N.: Gov't brutality in Syria, Libya "shocking"

GENEVA - The U.N.'s top human rights official says the brutality and magnitude of repression in Syria and Libya against anti-government groups is "shocking."

Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, says the crackdown in those countries is marked by an "outright disregard for basic human rights."

Rights groups say hundreds of people have been killed in Syria since the start of protests in mid-March.

Pillay urged the Syrian government Monday to allow a U.N. fact-finding mission to visit the country.

The team has been awaiting Syria's reply since requesting a visit on May 6.

Pillay also condemned the repression of protests in Bahrain and Yemen in her speech at the opening of a three-week meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.