Iraq Parliament Speaker: Syria Crackdown must End
The speaker of Iraq's parliament on Tuesday called for an end to Syria's deadly crackdown on anti-regime protests, saying the neighboring country must "stop the bloodshed."
"The bloody events occurring in Syria call for us to demand that the Syrian government stop the bloodshed, because the government is responsible for protecting the people," Osama al-Nujaifi said in a statement.
"We call for an end to all non-peaceful activities, and what is happening in Syria, the shedding of blood and the oppression of freedom, is condemned and unacceptable."
Nujaifi's comments are the most senior condemnation yet by an Iraqi politician since Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces began cracking down on pro-democracy demonstrators in March.
In late May, however, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called for reforms to be enacted by Damascus.
The regime's repression of the uprising has left more than 2,050 people dead, including almost 400 members of the security forces, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Source: Agence France Presse
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