Security forces in Syria on Wednesday arrested more than 25 protesters in the capital, Damascus, on a second day of rare protests that are banned under emergency laws in place since 1963.
Despite the ban, about 200 people took to the streets of Old Damascus on Tuesday, calling for liberty and political freedoms, and on Wednesday dozens of relatives of political prisoners demonstrated to demand their release.
“Free the prisoners,” the protesters chanted in Marjeh Square near the interior ministry in central Damascus as several human rights activists joined them, witnesses said.
Photo: Reuters
Large numbers of police and security agents in civilian clothes ringed the protesters, and four young demonstrators were arrested and whisked away by car, the sources said.
Amnesty International said plain-clothed security agents beat up some protesters and arrested at least 30 people, including a man snatched from hospital where he was “being treated for a serious head wound.”
“At the protest today, children, the elderly and women were among those beaten,” Amnesty said, quoting witnesses. “Demonstrators who tried to flee the assault were reportedly chased down and arrested.”
Washington called on Damascus to exercise restraint.
“We call on the Syrian government to live up to its obligations under the universal declaration on human rights,” US Department of State spokesman Mark Toner said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said “more than 25 people” were arrested, including Kurdish blogger Kamal Hussein Sheikho, who was released from prison on Sunday, although he is still on trial for allegedly publishing material harmful to the country.
Author Tayeb Tizini, rights activists Mazen Darweesh, Nahed Badawiya and Suhair Atassi were also detained, along with five relatives of prominent opposition figure Kamal Labwani, who is serving a 12-year jail term, including his son Omar, the SOHR said.
On Tuesday, Atassi hailed “the Syrian people who took the initiative ahead of the opposition,” recalling the popular uprisings that shook Tunisia and Egypt.
“It’s the first time a demonstration calling for freedom has taken place in Syria,” she told al-Jazeera TV.
Philip Luther, Amnesty’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, described the protests on Tuesday and Wednesday as “real acts of bravery in a country known for its intolerance of dissent.”
“The Syrian authorities must immediately release all those arrested in the last two days for merely attending peaceful protests, and stop these attacks on freedom of expression and assembly,” Luther said.
A Facebook page titled “The Syrian revolution against Bashar al-Assad 2011,” which has amassed about 42,000 fans, had been promoting demonstrations “in all Syrian cities” on Tuesday.
Dozens of Syrians marched in the landmark al-Hamidiyeh souk and nearby Hariqa souk of Old Damascus, chanting: “God, Syria, liberty” and “Syrians, where are you?”
The families of 21 jailed human rights activists announced in an online statement on Saturday their plans to lobby Syrian Interior Minister Saeed Sammur for the release of their relatives.
“We have decided to give the interior minister next Wednesday at noon a letter outlining our complaints and suffering,” they said a statement posted on the SOHR Web site.
The detainees, some of whom have spent several years behind bars, include human rights lawyers Anwar Bunni and Muhannad al-Hassani, as well as engineers, doctors and writers.
The protesters were unable to deliver the letter, said the head of the Syrian League for the Defense of Human Rights, Abdel Karim Rihawi. Officials told them they must first submit a request to see the minister, he added.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of