Syria, that beacon of transparency, is denying that a riot in a Syrian jail may have cost the lives of dozens of prisoners. Human rights groups in Damascus are claiming bloodshed. The authorities said they squelched an uprising at Sidnaya prison but did not mention any casualties, according to the Financial Times.
Whether or not dozens were killed, prisoners fear a bloody assault by Syrian troops will led to a massacre.
Supposedly, the rioters took hundreds of guards hostage, and negotiated their release in exchange for not being tortured or killed. Good luck with that.
As one of the country’s largest prisons, it is used to hold political detainees, of all political stripes.
The official Syrian Arab News Agency said it held “prisoners sentenced for crimes of terrorism and extremism caused trouble.”
A human rights groups said it held, leftists, Palestinians, Islamist militants and detained Syrian soldiers — basically anyone who crossed the regime either in action or belief. The legal basis continues to be the Baath-imposed Emergency laws, put in place since 1963, which makes Syria the police state it is.
Related posts:
- Palestinian Political Prisoners in Israel
- Captured Prisoners: The Full Story
- Syria Vs. Lebanon: The Eni Meeni Mini Mo Of Peace Talks
- First Graffiti Art Found in Syria
- Carter on Palestinian Prisoners
Whatever happened with all the people murdered by Arafat and the goons he brought in after Oslo?
Are there like graveyards for these people, or were their bodies given back to their families?
Posted by Anonymous | July 8, 2008, 9:07 amThe Syrians need to get creative, like Palestinians in Gaza, and start throwing their “political prisoners” off rooftops.
I will never get over that.
Of all the atrocities I have read, that was one of the most savage. To shoot someone in the head is one thing; to rape them is another. To pick them up in your hands and throw them off a high rise… that’s simply another ballgame.
Posted by Firouz | July 8, 2008, 11:31 amLebanon: Iranian Military Visits Hezbollah
July 8, 2008 2028 GMT
An Iranian military delegation has recently made a secret visit to Hezbollah fortifications and bunkers in west Bekaa Valley, a Stratfor source reported July 8. The delegation reportedly also visited a base in the Janta-Al-Sha’ra, a locality in the hills outside Nabi Sheet in the northern Bekaa Valley, where they viewed military exercises in which Islamist Palestinian elements participated alongside Hezbollah fighters.
Posted by Firouz | July 8, 2008, 1:32 pm