{"id":249,"date":"2011-05-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-09T00:00:00","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=249","title":{"rendered":"Syria death toll rises as city is placed under siege"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nSyria<\/span><\/strong>
\ndeath toll rises as city is placed under siege<\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nAt least 48 people have
\nbeen killed in Syria by the security forces in the last four days, local and
\ninternational human rights activists have told Amnesty International, as the crackdown
\non the coastal city of Banias intensified.  
\n<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nMore than 350 people –
\nincluding 48 women and a 10-year-old child – are also said to have been
\narrested in the Banias area over the past three days with scores being detained
\nat a local football pitch. Among those rounded up were at least three doctors
\nand 11 injured people taken from a hospital.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Killings of protesters
\nare spiralling out of control in Syria – President Bashar al-Assad must order
\nhis security forces to stop the carnage immediately,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty
\nInternational’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAmnesty International
\nhas compiled the names of 28 people who were apparently shot dead by security
\nforces on Friday and those of 12 others killed over the last three days.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe organization now
\nhas the names of 580 protesters and others killed since mid-March, when protests
\nagainst the government of President Bashar al-Assad began. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe 28 people killed on
\nFriday include at least nine in Homs, six in Hama, four in Latakia, four in Dayr
\nal-Zor, three in Dera’a, one in Idleb and one in Damascus. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nMultiple sources told
\nAmnesty International that on Saturday, security forces shot dead four women –
\nLeila Taha, Ahlam Hwaysqeh,  <\/span>Marwa ‘Abbas
\nand Leila Sahiouni – who were protesting on the road from Banias to the village
\nof al-Marqab to call for the release of those detained by security forces. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nYesterday, information
\nreceived indicates that two people were shot dead by snipers in the southern
\ntown of Tafas – Abu Gharib al-Ridawi and the wife of the lawyer Faysal
\nal-Zu’bi. Three people were also shot dead in Homs, including Muhammad Ahmed Muhammad and
\n‘Abd al-Hadi al-Shimali. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nA further two unarmed
\ndemonstrators were reported killed in Dayr al-Zor and one in the village of
\nJisr Shahour. In addition, an 11-year-old boy, Qassem Zuheyr al-Ahmed, was
\nkilled last night in Homs.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Syrian security
\nforces have placed Banias and other cities under siege. In Banias, water,
\nelectricity and telecommunications have been cut off and a Syrian human rights
\nactivist told Amnesty International that on Monday morning there were at least
\n30 tanks on the city’s streets. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nOn Saturday, tanks in
\nBanias fired shells from Ibn Khaldun Street into the residential area of Ras
\nal-Naba’. Four people were killed in the city that day. Snipers have been positioned
\non the roofs of buildings and yesterday reportedly shot dead Wa’el Bkour and
\nAhmed Qouqour. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nTanks have also entered
\nSyria’s third-largest city, Homs, and the Mu’dhamiyeh suburb of Damascus, as
\nwell as Tafas. Today in Dera’a, Waleed Hamed Ta’m Allah Abazeid was reported to
\nhave been shot dead.   <\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Syrian government
\ncontinues to attribute killings to “terrorist armed gangs” conspiring against
\nit. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Syrian State News
\nAgency, SANA, said that yesterday a minibus carrying civilians was ambushed
\nnear Homs by an “armed terrorist gang”, resulting in the deaths of 10 workers.
\nOne Syrian human rights activist told Amnesty International, however, that the
\nminibus had been shot at by security forces manning a checkpoint. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAmnesty International
\nhas not been allowed access to the country and can not verify the conflicting
\nreports. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“The Syrian authorities
\nare tightening the vice on residents of cities around Syria, punishing whole
\npopulations in their attempt to stamp out opposition,” said Philip Luther. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“These draconian
\nmeasures must come to an end – Syrians must be allowed to protest without fear
\nof deadly violence being used against them, and the authorities must restore water,
\nelectricity and phone lines.” <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nSyrian security forces
\narrested at least several hundred over the weekend, adding to the hundreds, or
\npossibly even thousands, already held – mostly in incommunicado detention – since
\nprotests began. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“The Syrian authorities
\nmust release those protesters being held across the country for peacefully
\ncalling for reform,” said Philip Luther. “Many are held without charge, have
\nnot had access to lawyers or family members and their wellbeing is in danger.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nSyria<\/span><\/strong>
\ndeath toll rises as city is placed under siege<\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nAt least 48 people have
\nbeen killed in Syria by the security forces in the last four days, local and
\ninternational human rights activists have told Amnesty International, as the crackdown
\non the coastal city of Banias intensified.  
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}