DAMASCUS, July 5, 2008
Report: Many Killed In Syria Prison Riot
Rights Group Claims Military Opened Fire On Inmates Protesting Poor Conditions
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Syrian human rights activists claimed on Saturday that many people were killed and wounded in a riot at a prison near Damascus, but indicated there was no clear way to get to the bottom of the incident.
The London-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights reported on its Web site that Islamist prisoners staged a protest earlier in the day over poor conditions in Sidnaya jail, approximately 15 miles north of Damascus.
The group reports that military police opened fire and killed over a hundred prisoners.
The Associated Press reported that, according to a human rights activist based in Lebanon, at least nine people were killed in the riot.
Mohammed Abdullah, a Beirut-based Syrian activist, told the AP he was in contact with the prisoners through a cell phone belonging to one of the guards they had taken hostage.
Muhannad al-Hassani, the head of Syria's National Organization for Human Rights, told the AP by telephone that he could see smoke billowing from the prison and prisoners standing on the roof.
He added that ambulances were ferrying the wounded to the hospital.
There has been no official word yet from the Syrian government, which usually doesn't comment on human rights issues.
"I call upon all not to refer to figures regarding the number of those who were killed and wounded in the mutiny unless there was an accurate and authentic report," Ammar Qurabi, Head of the National Organization of Human Rights in Syria, said in a telephone conversation.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Nice name - but who are these people - really????
I can''''t find anything much about them.
Posted by CBS_Oliver at 05:31 PM : Jul 05, 2008
Copy this into Google (without the "quote marks")
"Syrian Observatory of Human Rights"
Nice name - but who are these people - really????
I can''''t find anything much about them.
Posted by CBS_Oliver at 05:31 PM : Jul 05, 2008
Copy this into Google (without the "quote marks")
"Syrian Observatory of Human Rights"