\nDoctors and Eyewitnesses of Chemical Weapons Attack Describe Massacre in Damascus\n<\/p>\n
Click here to read the press release<\/a><\/p>\n \nThe Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies (DCHRS) held a press conference on the recent chemical attack perpetrated by Assad forces against Syrian civilians in Eastern Ghouta, Damascus. The press conference occurred on Friday, September 6, 2013 at 11:00 am in Murrow Room at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.\n<\/p>\n \nAt the conference, DCHRS, and two other Syrian human rights organizations, the Syrian Network for Human Rights<\/a> and the Violations Documentation Center in Syria<\/a>, revealed new facts about the attack through testimonies and interviews with eyewitnesses and doctors that treated victims of the chemical strike. DCHRS also presented full reports on the massacre<\/a>. The reports included detailed information about the attack and its victims, documented through photo and video evidence and testimonies.\n<\/p>\n \nAdditionally, during the conference, DCHRS connected directly to witnesses of the attack via live videoconference. The witnesses explained what they saw with their naked eyes and presented, in detail, a timeline of the events that occurred on August 21st. \n<\/p>\n \nConference Participants:<\/u><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \nRadwan Ziadeh<\/strong> is the founder and director of the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies in Syria and co-founder and executive director of the Syrian Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Washington, D.C. He is the managing editor of the Transitional Justice in the Arab World Project and has testified twice before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. His most recent book is Power and Policy in Syria: Intelligence Services, Foreign Relations, and Democracy in the Modern Middle East<\/em> (I.B.Tauris, 2011).\n<\/p>\n \nRazan Zaitouneh<\/strong> is a Syrian human rights lawyer. Actively involved in the Syrian uprising, she has documented human rights in Syria for the Local Coordination Committees of Syria and works as a legal expert for the Violations Documentation Center in Syria. On October 27, 2011, she was awarded the 2011 Sakharov Prize jointly with four other Arabs. She was previously awarded the Anna Politkovskaya award by Reach All Women in War. In 2013, Razan Zaitouneh was given the International Women of Courage Award.\n<\/p>\n \nDr. Sakhr al-Dimashqy <\/strong>is the President of the Unified Medical Center in East Ghouta. He received his medical degree from Damascus University and currently works as a surgeon in East Ghouta. Dr. Sakhr al-Dimashqy was one of the doctors who received victims in the Unified Medical Center on the night of the chemical weapons attack. He ultimately assisted more than 2000 injured and personally documented the deaths of 165 victims of the attack, of whom 104 were women and children.\n<\/p>\n \nDr. Ghazwan Bwidany<\/strong> is a medical doctor and graduate of the Damascus University medical school. Until recently, he was working on his residency majoring in psychiatry but was forced to end the residency prematurely due to the deteriorating situation in Syria. Dr. Ghazwan Bwidany practices in field hospitals in the city of Douma. He primarily works on counseling victims in the East Ghouta region as he is the only psychiatrist in the area.\n<\/p>\n \n###\n<\/p>\n