Syria
death toll rises as city is placed under siege

At least 48 people have
been killed in Syria by the security forces in the last four days, local and
international human rights activists have told Amnesty International, as the crackdown
on the coastal city of Banias intensified.  

More than 350 people –
including 48 women and a 10-year-old child – are also said to have been
arrested in the Banias area over the past three days with scores being detained
at a local football pitch. Among those rounded up were at least three doctors
and 11 injured people taken from a hospital.

“Killings of protesters
are spiralling out of control in Syria – President Bashar al-Assad must order
his security forces to stop the carnage immediately,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty
International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Amnesty International
has compiled the names of 28 people who were apparently shot dead by security
forces on Friday and those of 12 others killed over the last three days.

The organization now
has the names of 580 protesters and others killed since mid-March, when protests
against the government of President Bashar al-Assad began.

The 28 people killed on
Friday include at least nine in Homs, six in Hama, four in Latakia, four in Dayr
al-Zor, three in Dera’a, one in Idleb and one in Damascus.

Multiple sources told
Amnesty International that on Saturday, security forces shot dead four women –
Leila Taha, Ahlam Hwaysqeh,  Marwa ‘Abbas
and Leila Sahiouni – who were protesting on the road from Banias to the village
of al-Marqab to call for the release of those detained by security forces.

Yesterday, information
received indicates that two people were shot dead by snipers in the southern
town of Tafas – Abu Gharib al-Ridawi and the wife of the lawyer Faysal
al-Zu’bi. Three people were also shot dead in Homs, including Muhammad Ahmed Muhammad and
‘Abd al-Hadi al-Shimali.

A further two unarmed
demonstrators were reported killed in Dayr al-Zor and one in the village of
Jisr Shahour. In addition, an 11-year-old boy, Qassem Zuheyr al-Ahmed, was
killed last night in Homs.

The Syrian security
forces have placed Banias and other cities under siege. In Banias, water,
electricity and telecommunications have been cut off and a Syrian human rights
activist told Amnesty International that on Monday morning there were at least
30 tanks on the city’s streets.

On Saturday, tanks in
Banias fired shells from Ibn Khaldun Street into the residential area of Ras
al-Naba’. Four people were killed in the city that day. Snipers have been positioned
on the roofs of buildings and yesterday reportedly shot dead Wa’el Bkour and
Ahmed Qouqour.

Tanks have also entered
Syria’s third-largest city, Homs, and the Mu’dhamiyeh suburb of Damascus, as
well as Tafas. Today in Dera’a, Waleed Hamed Ta’m Allah Abazeid was reported to
have been shot dead.  

The Syrian government
continues to attribute killings to “terrorist armed gangs” conspiring against
it.

The Syrian State News
Agency, SANA, said that yesterday a minibus carrying civilians was ambushed
near Homs by an “armed terrorist gang”, resulting in the deaths of 10 workers.
One Syrian human rights activist told Amnesty International, however, that the
minibus had been shot at by security forces manning a checkpoint.

Amnesty International
has not been allowed access to the country and can not verify the conflicting
reports.

“The Syrian authorities
are tightening the vice on residents of cities around Syria, punishing whole
populations in their attempt to stamp out opposition,” said Philip Luther.

“These draconian
measures must come to an end – Syrians must be allowed to protest without fear
of deadly violence being used against them, and the authorities must restore water,
electricity and phone lines.”

Syrian security forces
arrested at least several hundred over the weekend, adding to the hundreds, or
possibly even thousands, already held – mostly in incommunicado detention – since
protests began.

“The Syrian authorities
must release those protesters being held across the country for peacefully
calling for reform,” said Philip Luther. “Many are held without charge, have
not had access to lawyers or family members and their wellbeing is in danger.”

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