{"id":297,"date":"2011-07-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-10T00:00:00","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=297","title":{"rendered":"Report reveals crimes against humanity in Syrian town"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nReport reveals crimes against humanity in Syrian town<\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nClick here to Access and Download Full Report – PDF File<\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe brutal methods used in a devastating Syrian security
\noperation in the western town of Tell Kalakh may constitute crimes against
\nhumanity, Amnesty International said today in a new report.\n<\/p>\n

\nCrackdown in Syria: Terror in Tell Kalakh documents deaths
\nin custody, torture and arbitrary detention that took place in May when Syrian
\narmy and security forces mounted a broad security sweep, lasting less than a
\nweek, against residents of the town near the Lebanese border.\n<\/p>\n

\n“The accounts we have heard from witnesses to events in Tell
\nKalakh paint a deeply disturbing picture of systematic, targeted abuses to
\ncrush dissent,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and
\nNorth Africa Deputy Director.\n<\/p>\n

\n“Most of the crimes described in this report would fall
\nwithin the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. But the UN
\nSecurity Council must first refer the situation in Syria to the Court’s
\nProsecutor.”\n<\/p>\n

\nThe paper’s findings are based on interviews carried out in
\nLebanon and by phone with more than 50 people in May and June. Amnesty
\nInternational has not been allowed to enter Syria.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe operation began on 14 May when the army and security
\nforces entered Tell Kalakh following a demonstration calling for the downfall
\nof the regime.\n<\/p>\n

\nAt least one person, 24-year-old Ali al-Basha was killed on
\nthat first day, apparently by snipers, and even the ambulance carrying his body
\ncame under fire. As many tried to leave, Syrian forces fired on fleeing
\nfamilies.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe following days saw scores of male residents, including
\nsome aged over 60 and boys aged less than 18 years, rounded up and detained.
\nEvery family from Tell Kalakh that Amnesty International met in Lebanon said
\nthey had at least one relative in detention.\n<\/p>\n

\nMost of those detained were tortured, some even as they were
\nbeing arrested, according to accounts. In one incident, soldiers transporting
\ndetainees counted how many they had arrested by stabbing lit cigarettes on the
\nbacks of their necks.\n<\/p>\n

\nDetainees told Amnesty International that Military Security,
\none of the security forces which detrained people, used the shabah (ghost)
\nmethod, where the detainee is forced into a stress position for long periods
\nand beaten, in these cases by being tied by the wrists to a bar high enough off
\nthe ground to force the detainee to stand on the tip of their toes.\n<\/p>\n

\nTwenty year-old “Mahmoud”, who was arrested on 16 May and
\nreleased after nearly a month in detention, was held for around five days at
\nthe Military Security detention facility in Homs:\n<\/p>\n

\n“Each day [was] the same story. They tied me up in the
\nshabah position and applied electricity to my body and testicles. Sometimes I
\nscreamed very loudly and begged the interrogator to stop. He didn’t care.”\n<\/p>\n

\nAt least nine people died in custody after being arrested
\nduring the security operation in Tell Kalakh, according to witnesses. Eight of
\nthese men – some of whom had been active in demonstrations – were shot at and
\nwounded as they were ordered out of a house, and were then taken away by soldiers.\n<\/p>\n

\nIt was only around two weeks later that relatives were told
\nto go to a military hospital to identify the bodies of the eight men. Witnesses
\nsaid the bodies had marks on them which suggested torture, including cuts to
\nthe chest, long vertical slashes on the thighs and what seemed to be gunshot
\nwounds on the back of the legs.\n<\/p>\n

\nA forensic pathologist analysed a photograph of one of the
\nmen, Abd al-Rahman Abu Libdeh, for Amnesty International and concluded that he
\nseemed to have sustained violent injuries to the face, shoulders and neck while
\nstill alive.\n<\/p>\n

\nSome of the family members who went to identify the bodies
\nof their sons said they were forced to sign a document stating that their sons
\nwere killed by armed gangs.\n<\/p>\n

\nAmnesty International knows that a number of people arrested
\nduring the security operation in Tell Kalakh still remain in detention,
\nincluding a 17-year-old boy.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe organization called on the Syrian authorities to release
\nall those arbitrarily arrested and those detained for taking part in peaceful
\ndemonstrations or expressing views of dissent, including children.\n<\/p>\n

\nAmnesty International considers that crimes committed in
\nTell Kalakh amount to crimes against humanity as they appear to be part of a
\nwidespread, as well as systematic, attack against the civilian population.\n<\/p>\n

\nAmnesty International reiterated its call on the UN Security
\nCouncil to refer the situation in Syria to the Prosecutor of the International
\nCriminal Court. It also urged the Syrian authorities to provide unimpeded
\naccess to UN investigators currently looking into the human rights situation in
\nSyria.\n<\/p>\n

\n”The willingness of the international community to take
\naction on Libya in the name of human rights has highlighted its double
\nstandards on Syria,” said Philip Luther.\n<\/p>\n

\n“Despite President Bashar al-Assad’s talk of reform, there
\nis little evidence so far that the Syrian authorities will respond to anything
\nbut concrete international measures.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nClick here to Access and Download Full Report – PDF File<\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nReport reveals crimes against humanity in Syrian town<\/strong><\/a><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nCrackdown in Syria: Terror in Tell Kalakh documents deaths
\nin custody, torture and arbitrary detention that took place in May when Syrian
\narmy and security forces mounted a broad security sweep, lasting less than a
\nweek, against residents of the town near the Lebanese border.\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/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-297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297","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=297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}