{"id":299,"date":"2011-07-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-19T00:00:00","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=299","title":{"rendered":"Syria: Torture fear for dozens arrested in Damascus suburb"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nSyria<\/span><\/strong>: Torture fear for dozens arrested
\nin Damascus
\nsuburb<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nDozens of men are being held incommunicado at unknown
\nlocations and are at risk of torture after the Syrian security forces conducted
\nmass arrests in a Damascus suburb over the weekend, Amnesty International said
\ntoday.
\nTanks and armed men moved into Qatana, south-west of the capital, on Saturday,
\nopening fire on unarmed residents and carrying out raids randomly arresting
\ndozens of men between the ages of 18 and 40. Amnesty International is particularly
\nconcerned for their given reports of rampant torture across Syria. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nJournalist and political activist ‘Ali al-‘Abdullah,
\naged 61, is among those being held incommunicado at an unknown location after
\nhis arrest on Sunday. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Syrian authorities must reveal the whereabouts of ‘Ali
\nal-‘Abdullah and the other Qatana detainees and ensure that they are protected
\nfrom torture and other ill-treatment while held,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty
\nInternational’s Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n‘Ali al-‘Abdullah’s son Mohammad, who lives in exile in
\nthe USA, told Amnesty International that some 10 armed men in military uniforms
\narrived at his family’s flat in Qatana on the morning of Sunday, 17 July. They
\nransacked the flat and threatened to open fire if the family did not hand over ‘Ali’s
\nother son, ‘Omar. As ‘Omar was not home, they arrested ‘Ali instead, telling
\nthe family that “he won’t come back unless ‘Omar shows up.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAmnesty International believes that ‘Ali al-‘Abdullah
\nis likely to be a prisoner of conscience detained solely because he is ‘Omar’s
\nfather. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nThere are concerns for his well-being as he underwent
\nheart surgery three weeks ago and it is not known if he is receiving the
\nrequired constant medical attention and treatment. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n‘Ali al-‘Abdullah has been previously imprisoned five
\ntimes for his peaceful political activism, and was most recently released on 4
\nJune as part of a “general amnesty” declared by Syrian President Bashar
\nal-Assad. His sons have also been imprisoned on politically motivated charges
\nin the past. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nSome of the dozens of other men from Qatana currently
\nheld incommunicado at unknown locations are believed to have taken part in or
\nsupported pro-reform protests in the town last week. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPro-reform protests had been taking place daily in
\nQatana from 9 to 15 July, following four months of unrest across Syria. The
\nprotesters clashed with al-Assad supporters on a number of occasions when both
\nsides threw stones at each other. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAccording to Qatana residents the situation reportedly
\nescalated when the Syrian army and security forces entered the town with tanks
\nearly on 16 July and opened fire on residential areas, injuring a number of
\npeople including some of those who were leaving the Mosque of Mariam Ben ‘Omran
\nafter Saturday morning prayers. A curfew was imposed at around 11am, internet,
\nelectricity and water were cut off in at least some parts of the town and the
\narmy and security forces began carrying out door-to-door raids and arresting
\nmen.
\nQatana residents also reported that a seven-month-old child, Mohammed Ahmed
\nSabboura, was shot dead and his mother injured while attempting to flee Qatana.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAmnesty International has
\nthe names of 32 people who are reported to have been killed nationwide by
\nSyrian security forces and army since the weekend and more than 1,380 reported
\nto have been killed since the unrest began in mid-March. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“In recent months, from Dara’a to Homs to Qatana and beyond, violence, shelling
\nof residential areas and mass arrests have become all too common in the Syrian
\nauthorities’ attempts to quell pro-reform protests,” said Philip Luther.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Meanwhile, Syrian citizens’ demands for reform have
\nonly gathered steam, driving home the notion that the status quo is not working
\nand the bloody military crackdown must come to an end.”<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nSyria<\/span><\/strong>: Torture fear for dozens arrested
\nin Damascus
\nsuburb<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nDozens of men are being held incommunicado at unknown
\nlocations and are at risk of torture after the Syrian security forces conducted
\nmass arrests in a Damascus suburb over the weekend, Amnesty International said
\ntoday. <\/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-299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299","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=299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}