Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Damascus (Agenzia Fides) - Unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary detentions and indiscriminate destruction of homes: are the actions carried out by the armed forces and "shabiha" government militias in Syria, that constitutes an offense of "crimes against humanity". Amnesty International, in a statement sent to Fides Agency, asks the international community to "stop the wave of attacks, which get more and more massive and unpunished."
In a new Report entitled "Deadly reprisals", the NGO speaks of "extensive and systematic human rights violations, including crimes against humanity and war crimes perpetrated by state forces as reprisals against communities suspected of supporting the opposition.
Donatella Rovera, of Amnesty International, recently spent several weeks in northern Syria to investigate the violations of human rights, despite not receiving official authorization by the Syrian authorities to enter the country. Amnesty staff reviewed the situation in northern Syria, visiting 23 cities between villages in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib. In the places visited, 200 interviews were collected, local people reported that civilians (old, young and even children) were taken and killed by soldiers, and in some cases then set fire to the corpses. According to the Report, soldiers and "shabiha" militias burned down homes and properties and fired indiscriminately into residential areas, killing and injuring civilian bystanders during the attacks. Those arrested, including the elderly and sick, were tortured, sometimes to death. Many have disappeared and their fate remains unknown, the Report says. "The armed forces and government militias are responsible for serious violations of human rights and serious violations of international humanitarian law," it concludes.
Since the beginning of the demonstrations for reforms in February 2011, Amnesty International has received the names of over 10,000 people killed. In the Report, Amnesty calls on the UN Security Council to refer the case of Syria to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and to impose an arms embargo on Syria. The NGOs in particular, urges the governments of Russia and China to put an immediate end to arms supplies and military training to the Syrian army. The NGO also asks the UN Security Council to freeze the assets of President Bashar al-Assad and others who may be involved in the order or execution of crimes under international law. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 14/6/2012)
