Thursday, September 01, 2011
Elder of ZiyonHama attorney general defects
"Bakkour, said in another video released earlier on Wednesday that he had resigned because security forces killed 72 imprisoned protesters and activists at Hama's central jail on the eve of the a military assault on the city on July 31, which he said killed at least another 420 people, many of whom were buried in mass graves in public parks. Bakkour said the 72 prisoners were buried in Khaldiyia village in rural Hama near a Military Intelligence branch, which tried to pressure him to write a report that the other 420 people killed in the assault on the city were killed by armed groups, whom the authorities also blame for most killings across the country....
"Bakkour began drawing attention to himself this month by challenging Military Intelligence to release hundreds of protesters,"
The Syrian regime is raiding Hama again.
The Syrian regime killed at least 473 protesters during Ramadan. At least 88 prisoners have been killed in the last few months, including at least 10 minors, some as young as 13.
The death toll of 360 civilians included 25 children and 14 women, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It said 113 government forces were also killed.
Amnesty International has said at least 10 children who had been arrested died recently in detention centres where inmates suffered beatings, burns, electric shocks and mutilation.
Syrian regime thugs molest US ambassador
It was absolutely wrong to send him back to Syria. But I'll admit that Ford has acquitted himself rather well during this uprising.
EU Syria sanctions will now include an oil embargo.
Took them long enough. 95% of Syrian oil exports go to the EU. But... .
The sanctions won't include a ban on European companies investing in the Syrian energy sector, a measure that could be adopted in future rounds, diplomats said... Anglo-Dutch major Royal Dutch Shell PLC, France's Total SA and Hungarian firm MOL Nyrt are the only European firms with significant production interests in the country.
Boycott Shell and Total. Truly.
Meet a few of the young men of the uprising in Syria, including some of the Islamists. Long article but worth reading.
Abdullah, a 26-year-old computer engineer and pious Muslim, is a wanted man. He joined the first protest in Homs in March, and since then he has emerged as one of the dozen or so leaders of the youth resistance. His savvy with technology has made him a target for the police, and this was the fifth place he had slept in in less than a week. He hadn’t been to his family’s home in two months. Around his neck he wore a tiny toy penguin that was actually a thumb drive, which he treated like a talisman, occasionally squeezing it to make sure it was still there. I sat next to him on the mattress and watched as he traded messages with other activists on Skype, then updated a Facebook page that serves as an underground newspaper, then marked a Google Earth map of Homs with the spots of the latest unrest. “If there’s no Internet,” Abdullah said, “there’s no life.”
Meanwhile, the death toll continues to rise.
