{"id":221,"date":"2011-04-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/?p=221","title":{"rendered":"World Should Impose Sanctions on Leadership, International Inquiry Needed after Killings of Protesters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nFor Immediate Release<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\n Syria: World Should Impose Sanctions on Leadership,
\n<\/em>International Inquiry Needed after Killings of Protesters <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\n (New York, April 24, 2011) – The United Nations should
\nset-up an international inquiry into the fatal shootings by Syria’s security
\nforces of peaceful protesters, Human Rights Watch said today after the killing
\nof protesters in 14 separate towns on April 22, 2011. The inquiry should also
\nexamine other human rights violations committed since anti-government protests
\nbegan in mid-March.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe US and EU should also impose sanctions on Syrian
\nofficials who bear responsibility for the use of lethal force against peaceful
\nprotesters and the arbitrary detention and torture of hundreds of protesters<\/a>, and push for similar
\nsanctions to be imposed by the Security Council.\n<\/p>\n

\n“After Friday’s carnage, it is no longer enough to condemn
\nthe violence,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights
\nWatch. “Faced with the Syrian authorities’ ‘shoot to kill’ strategy, the
\ninternational community needs to impose sanctions on those ordering the
\nshooting of protesters.”\n<\/p>\n

\nOn April 22, Syria’s security forces killed at least 76
\nprotesters, and possibly as many as 112, according to lists compiled by local
\nhuman rights activists. Human Rights Watch interviewed protesters in the towns
\nof Homs, Ezraa, Douma, and Maadamiya, who reported that security forces opened
\nfire on them without warning. On April 23, security forces shot at funeral
\nprocessions in Barza, Douma, and Ezraa, killing at least 12 additional
\nmourners, according to media reports.\n<\/p>\n

\nUN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, US President Barack Obama,
\nand Jerzy Buzek, president of the European Parliament, issued strong
\ncondemnations of the April 22 shootings, calling on the Syrian authorities to
\nstop using violence against peaceful protesters, but did not press for any
\nconcrete actions.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe highest number of casualties was in Homs, the southern
\ntown of Ezraa, and in towns surrounding Damascus.\n<\/p>\n

\nHoms<\/u><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nA Homs-based activist told Human Rights Watch that protests
\ntook place in at least four neighborhoods of the city: Bab al-Seba`, Bayyada,
\nKhalidiyyah and Baba al-`Amr. Syrian activists published a list of 19 names of
\nkilled protesters. One witness who joined the protest that started from the
\nNour Mosque in the Khalidiyya neighborhood told Human Rights Watch that around
\n2:30pm, security forces opened fire on them without any warning. He identified
\nthose shooting as security forces wearing uniforms as well as men in civilian
\nclothes carrying Kalashnikovs. He saw a number of protesters shot, but was able
\nto identify only one of those killed, Muhammad al-Kaheel.\n<\/p>\n

\nSyria’s state news agency, SANA, reported that a policeman
\nwas killed in Homs but provided no further details.\n<\/p>\n

\nA doctor working at al-Barr Hospital in Homs, told Human
\nRights Watch on April 22 that by 4:30pm, the hospital had received four persons
\nkilled during the demonstrations. The hospital’s medical staff was also
\ntreating 15 wounded, two of them in critical condition. He said:\n<\/p>\n

\nThe hospital’s five operating rooms are occupied. Most of
\nthe patients have bullet wounds to the chest. All the bullets are real. No
\nrubber bullets at all. Protesters and neighbors are standing around the
\nhospital to prevent security forces from entering and taking the wounded – like
\nwe heard happened in other hospitals.\n<\/p>\n

\nEzraa<\/u><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nSecurity forces also killed at least 18 protesters in the
\ntown of Ezraa, near the southern city of `Adra, according to Syrian human
\nrights activists. A doctor in Ezraa’s hospital told Human Rights Watch that by
\n4pm on April 22, the hospital had received 12 bodies of killed protesters,
\nincluding one who was about 10 years old. Another doctor at the Ezraa hospital said
\nat 4:30pm on April 22 that three of the wounded were in very critical
\nconditions and would likely die. He also indicated that he knew of one
\nprotester from the neighboring town of al-Hrake who was transferred to the
\nnational hospital in Daraa and died there.\n<\/p>\n

\nTwo Ezraa protesters interviewed by Human Rights Watch on
\nApril 22 said that they started their march from the Serail square. When they
\ngot close to the town’s grain factory, security forces posted on the top of the
\nfactory opened fire on them. Both protesters said that they were peacefully
\nmarching and had not attacked the security forces. One of the protesters
\nindicated that those shooting were wearing military clothes.\n<\/p>\n

\nAn official in the Syrian army told SANA that a group of
\nindividuals on motorbikes and in cars drove towards the center of Izraa and
\nattacked guards at an official building, first with rocks and later by firing
\ngunshots, which led the army to fire back. The official then spoke of<\/a>
\n“a car with masked gunmen who opened fire indiscriminately killing eight
\npeople.”  The two Ezraa protesters both denied categorically the
\nallegations on SANA.\n<\/p>\n

\n“If Syrian officials want the world to believe them, they
\nmust allow independent journalists and activists into the country,” Stork said.\n<\/p>\n

\nDamascus and Towns Nearby<\/u><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nSecurity forces were heavily deployed in Damascus and in the
\nsurrounding towns of Maadamiyya, Daraya, Douma, and Qaboun. A student at
\nDamascus University described what he saw on April 22 in Zablatani, a central
\narea of Damascus:\n<\/p>\n

\nAt about 2:30 pm, I saw in Zablatani 11 green buses full of
\nplainclothes security men armed with automatic weapons, tasers, and batons. I
\nalso saw “public committees” of residents with sticks guarding their blocks
\nagainst what they consider intruders. Altogether, there were about 5,000 men
\nthere. The whole area was blocked off, no buses or taxis were allowed to pass
\nthrough. At one point, they all began running toward one of the market areas.
\nNear the area, I saw them beat and arrest someone, who was bleeding from the
\nface. Another security agent was kicking a man in a corner. … I heard shots
\nbeing fired, but could not identify where or by whom.\n<\/p>\n

\nA resident of Maadamiya, a town near Damascus where
\nanti-government protests had occurred in past weeks, told a Human Rights Watch
\nresearcher by phone that security forces killed eight protesters there on April
\n22.  The researcher could hear heavy gunfire while speaking to him around
\n3:45 pm local time. The Maadamiya resident said:\n<\/p>\n

\nThe army was deployed around the town since the previous
\nevening. They belonged to the Fourth Unit. After midday prayer, we started a
\nprotest and reached the intersection for [the road to] Darya. The protest was
\npeaceful with people chanting slogans calling for freedom and in some cases for
\nthe removal of the regime. At around 2:45, they suddenly opened fire on us
\nwithout warning. I saw three die in front of me. My brother was injured, and my
\ncousin died. We tried to take the wounded to the Darya hospital but were told
\nthat they were arresting the wounded and those bringing them. So we took the
\nwounded to the Rawda Mosque. When we got there, there were already around 10
\nwounded being treated in the mosque.\n<\/p>\n

\n“President Bashar al-Asad’s promises of reform mean nothing
\nwhile his security forces are free to kill peaceful protesters,” Stork said.
\n“The Obama administration and the EU should push for meaningful sanctions that
\nwill persuade President Asad to end the shootings and restore human rights.”\n<\/p>\n

\nFor more of Human Rights Watch’s reporting on Syria,
\nplease visit: <\/strong>http:\/\/www.hrw.org\/en\/middle-eastn-africa\/syria<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\n Syria: World Should Impose Sanctions on Leadership,
\n<\/em>International Inquiry Needed after Killings of Protesters <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\n (New York, April 24, 2011) – The United Nations should
\nset-up an international inquiry into the fatal shootings by Syria’s security
\nforces of peaceful protesters, Human Rights Watch said today after the killing
\nof protesters in 14 separate towns on April 22, 2011. The inquiry should also
\nexamine other human rights violations committed since anti-government protests
\nbegan in mid-March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}