Story highlights Defector urges US President Donald Trump to stop what he calls "criminality" taking place in Syrian prisons

He worked as a photographer for the Syrian military police in Damascus

(CNN) The Syrian defector who smuggled out tens of thousands of photos of people allegedly tortured to death in Assad regime jails has spoken out in his first TV interview.

In an exclusive interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, the defector, code-named "Caesar," urged US President Donald Trump 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," he said, "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."

Caesar worked as a photographer for the Syrian military police in Damascus. CNN first broke the news of his defection and the trove of photos he smuggled out in a joint exclusive with the Guardian in 2014.

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