Syria Forces Shoot on Activist Funeral: Rights Group
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Syrian security forces opened fire on a funeral procession for an activist in the oil-rich east on Sunday as they pressed a crackdown on dissent, a human rights group said.
"Syrian security forces in Deir Ezzor fired live bullets at a funeral procession for Ziad al-Obeidi," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in reference to one of its associates on the ground.
"Some 7,000 people took part in the funeral which turned into a demonstration calling for the fall of the regime," the Britain-based watchdog said.
Obeidi, 42, was killed by security forces who were hunting for him in Deir Ezzor, a province in Syria's east. He had gone into hiding in August during military operations in the area.
Security forces on Sunday also carried out raids and arrests in the flashpoint central province of Homs and in the outskirts of Damascus, with 19 people arrested in Dmeir, the Observatory said.
The official news agency SANA, meanwhile, said an "armed terrorist gang" ambushed and killed two security agents in the central city of Hama, a hotbed of dissent and the focal point of a 10-day military operation in August.
President Bashar al-Assad's regime blames "armed gangs" for the violence that has wracked Syria for the past seven months, but activists say most fo the deaths are caused by security forces putting down non-violent protests.
UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said on Friday that more than 3,000 people, including 187 children, have been killed in the fierce crackdown on dissent.
In its latest toll, the Observatory said security forces killed 12 people in Syria on Saturday alone.
A Damascus court, meanwhile, decided to release on bail Mazen Adi, a leading opposition figure who was detained on May 11, his lawyer said.
"The criminal court of Damascus decided on Sunday to free Mazen Adi, leader of the (banned) People's Democratic Party on 30,000 Syrian pounds (600 dollars) bail," said his lawyer Michel Shammas.
"He will then be tried on charges of damaging the image of the state," he added.
Arab foreign ministers were to meet at the League headquarters in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the bloody crackdown on protests in Syria at the request of the Gulf monarchies. Reports said the possibility of Syria being suspended from the Arab League was to be discussed.
16 October 2011, 18:09
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The poster being held in the picture that leads this article. Tells it all. This is the bottom line for the Obama Administration. Does it stand for the rule of law and the international order based on law, or will it continue to sit silent in the face of a homocidal regime in Syria trying to hold power by all means illigitimate?
As the American national anthem ends in a question, "Oh say does that star spangled banner yet remain, o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"
That question must be on the minds of the Syrian people and of the world.
16 October 2011, 18:48
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this regime and all its allies are nothing but murderous killers.
16 October 2011, 20:20
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My Advice to all the Human Right Observatory nationals being jailed in the terrorist regime jails is that to endure the jail terror and remain inside the jail so that they remain alive, versus the malicious regime setting them free, and assassinate them indirectly under the slogan "Armed groups" kidnapped them and eliminated them.
This is the game they are playing, they set them free and send a car full of masked security agents (i.e. Hezbollah and Baathists) to assassinate them.
16 October 2011, 20:23
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First of all the Syrian opposition has made it clear that they do not want the kiss of death of American (read Israeli) military involvement. If this picture is in Syria...the persons holding it are either paid puppets of the CIA or they work for the Syrian regime to discredit the opposition. No one is stupid enough in the middle east to believe that the US supports "democracy" because the USA have supported the most brutal regimes, including currently Wahabi Saudi and the Zionist Apartheid regime. What is the purpose of Naharnet to put this picture? Does NAHARNET thinks by putting this picture the Arab masses will hate America less? Did the CIA pay Naharnet to put this stupid picture? This is funny!
17 October 2011, 02:26
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A funeral of a Sunni crazy is the best place to hunt other Sunni crazies. 3alehom
18 October 2011, 08:20
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I agree with u john. This was definitely given to the protesters. Plus an average english speaking Syrian won't come up with this sentence.
