On 26 December, security and military forces fired live ammunition at protesters, claiming the lives of 44 civilians in several areas, primarily in Homs and Hamah.
(ANHRI/IFEX) – ANHRI condemns the ongoing killing and repression of peaceful protesters who are demanding freedom and the ouster of the governing regime, expressing its deep concern in addition over the disappearance of Syrian activists.
On 26 December 2011, security and military forces firing live ammunition claimed the lives of 44 civilians in several areas of Syria, primarily in Homs and Hamah.
On 23 December, Omar Raad, a doctor, was arrested near his home in the town of Zebdani, near the Lebanon-Syria border. According to eye witnesses, state security personnel arrested Raad as he was passing a checkpoint they had set up on the street where he resides. His whereabouts remain unknown, and state security personnel are refusing to declare officially that they detained him.
It is worth noting that the murders and detentions coincide with a visit by Arab League monitors to Homs to observe the implementation of a plan that the Syrian regime had signed to end the violence. The monitoring groups are also scheduled to visit Damascus, Deraa, Hamah and Idleb, as well as the countryside surrounding these cities. They will then write a detailed report based on testimonies from civilians and opposition forces.
“The ongoing murders and detentions of protesters and activists, despite the ratification of an agreement with the Arab League to end the violence, is nothing more than a reflection of the regime’s lack of adherence and commitment to any conventions. This regime uses repression and violence as a way to crush the popular uprising,” said ANHRI. “Rather than sending monitors to visit Syrian cities that have been destroyed and whose people have been killed, the Arab League should clearly demand the ouster of this corrupt regime and its representatives, and promptly bring them to trial for the crimes they have committed against the Syrian people.”
