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Tuesday, December 06, 2005 

Mehlis questions Syrians in Vienna

The interrogation of 5 Syrian witnesses is taking place in Vienna, Austria. It is expected to take 3 days.

All of the Syrians have been given guarantees that they'll be allowed to return to Syria after the interviews.

The five men were implicated by UN Investogator Mehlis in his investigation into the murder of Rafiq Al-Hariri. But one other - who hasn't been named - was not summoned to Vienna by Mehlis.

Syria fought to get the interviews in Austria rather than Lebanon, because it wanted it to take place on neutral territory.

The Syrian Security puts pressure on a detainee’s family to give false evidence

SHRC

Referring to SHRC’s statement on 16/11/2005 regarding the arrest of Mr. Siraj Khaboos from the town of Dooma in Rural Damascus on 12/9/2005, and the fact that he was exposed to severe torture that left him permanently paralysed if he could escape the consequences of torture and survive, and that he was handed over to his family at Ibn al-Nafis hospital in Damascus.

In a sudden development, not surprising to SHRC, the Syrian security authorities summoned Mr. Khalboos’s father. He was subjected to threats, insults and ill-treatments to force him to give false evidence that his son was ill before his arrest, and that he was arrested because of an alleged connection with Jund al-Sham organisation.

SHRC condemns in the strongest terms the ongoing practising of torture, applied systematically and routinely by the Syrian security authorities. It also condemns terrorising the families of detainees and the victims of torture to force them to give false witnesses and information that damage the detainees and absolve the security authorities from their responsibilities of the crimes they usually commit.

SHRC also expresses its disappointment from the fact that no limit was put to the repression of the security apparatuses, so that they grew even more fierece to attack the families of their victims. Last year, they forced the family of the late Mohammed Ali al-Masalmeh to give false evidence that he did not die as a direct consequences of torture. The president of the Arab Organisation of Human Rights in Syria was detained for several months because he clarified the incident. Then Mr. Yassin al-Hamwi was arrested because he requested the release of his son, and Mohammed Ali al-Abdullah was also arrested because he requested the release of his father. Today the same story is being repeated with the family of Siraj Khalboos.

SHRC refers to the fact that torture is a major violation of human rights according to both the Syrian constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; however it is still being practised on the largest scale by the Syrian authorities. At the same time, they pressurise the victims’ families to deny that it was applied on their loved ones. SHRC regards this as no lesser crime than its predecessor. Therefore, SHRC repeats its requests to the Syrian authorities in order to respect human rights, to stop all kinds of torture and to cease applying pressures on the detainees’ and victims’ families because such are not legal or ethical practises.

SHRC appeals as well to the friends of human rights in Syria and around the world to request the Syrian president and the other concerned parties in Syria to respect human rights and to terminate practising torture or applying pressure of the victims’ families.

Syrian Human Rights Committee

6/12/2005

I do not know why shrc does not publish on their own site instead of using this site as a platform for their propoganda,i allways wonder about all these people who complain about syria and it,s goverment who is trying to do all they can to make the lives of the Syrian people safe and prosper as much as they know how,on their contribution to Syria in money and taxes or civel service and time donated to teach reading and math and writing,they just complain without solutions offerd ,shame on them.

I noticed few things in the US after president Bashar speach and the muslem brotherhood win in Egypt ,the US goverment sopped bashing Syria the US rep to the UN said (Syria is cooperating )president Bush did not mention Syria at all in his speaches as he did frequently,does that all mean that the US goverment is geting smarter ,i hope so.

I agree with Norman: even if groups have valid things to say it is not very fair to squat other people's blogs. They could limit themselves to commenting the post and sign with their web site address; btw
"U.N. investigators completed questioning five Syrian officials in Vienna on Wednesday in connection with the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri this year, diplomatic sources said.
Two of the Syrians were questioned at U.N. offices in Vienna on Monday and returned to Damascus. The three others were questioned on Wednesday and were expected to return home the same day, the sources said."

If you could use your brain my dear Northman, you'll understand that anybody can copy past a text. It doesn't have to be a SHRC member.

Anon,at least i have a brain you must be one of the traiters sympothysers.

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  • Written by sasa
  • From Damascus, Syria
  • From Damascus to London via Beirut. Based in and out of the central Damascene hamlet of Saroujah. News and feelings from the streets every day. I'm talking rubbish? Leave a comment. Welcome to the information democracy. See below for info about this site.
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