The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Amnesty says Syria's diplomats harass dissidents
- Syrian forces raid town, Assad's foes unite
- Italian appeal court clears Amanda Knox of murder
| Amnesty says Syria's diplomats harass dissidents Posted: 03 Oct 2011 06:21 PM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - Syrian diplomats in foreign capitals are mounting campaigns of harassment and threats against expatriate dissidents protesting outside their embassies, Amnesty International said on Tuesday. Syrian opposition supporters have mounted noisy protests outside many embassies in recent months as the government of Bashar al-Assad has tried to put down unrest with what observers say has been a bloody crackdown. Amnesty said embassy officials had filmed and threatened some of those involved in protests outside Syria, and that in some cases relatives in Syria had been deliberately targeted for harassment, detention, torture and outright disappearance. "Expatriate Syrians have been trying, through peaceful protest, to highlight abuses that we consider amount to crimes against humanity - and that presents a threat to the Syrian regime," said Neil Sammonds, Amnesty International's Syria researcher. "In response the regime appears to have waged a systematic - sometimes violent - campaign to intimidate Syrians overseas into silence. This is yet more evidence that the Syrian government will not tolerate legitimate dissent and is prepared to go to great lengths to muzzle those who challenge it publicly." Syrian officials have generally denied reports of human rights abuses, with the Assad government saying it has no choice but to restore law and order and avert chaos. The group said it had documented cases of more than 30 activists in eight countries -- Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Britain and the United States -- who had faced some form of direct intimidation. In many cases, those protesting outside Syrian embassies complained they had been initially filmed or photographed by officials and then received phone calls, e-mails and Facebook messages warning them to stop. In some cases, those contacting them openly admitted they were embassy officials, demanding they stop any kind of political action and threatening a variety of consequences. Naima Darwish, a Syrian protester living in Chile, says she was contacted directly by an embassy official who asked to meet her after she set up a Facebook group to organise a protest at the Santiago embassy. "He told me that I should not to do such things," she told Amnesty. "He said I would lose the right to return to Syria if I continued." One protester in Spain, Imad Mouhalhel, said his brother Aladdin had been detained in Syria for several days in July, had been shown photos and videos of protests outside the Madrid embassy and asked to identify Imad. Aladdin was then briefly released before being detained again in August and apparently forced to phone Imad to tell him to stop his political actions. Aladdin had not been seen since, Amnesty said, expressing "grave fears" for his safety. The rights group said Western governments had been far too slow to take action to rein in Damascus' diplomats. "We look to host governments to act on credible allegations of abuses without waiting for formal complaints," said Amnesty's Sammonds. "Many of the people we have spoken to are too scared of what could happen to them to make formal complaints with the police. We would expect that any official found responsible for such acts should be prosecuted, or - if diplomatic immunity prevents that - asked to leave the country." (Editing by Andrew Roche) Copyright © 2011 Reuters | ||
| Syrian forces raid town, Assad's foes unite Posted: 03 Oct 2011 06:21 PM PDT AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian forces hunted insurgents in the central region of Homs as they sought to crush armed resistance that is emerging after six months of protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule. Monday's crackdown came a day after Syrian opposition groups met in Istanbul and urged international action to stop what they called indiscriminate killings of civilians by the authorities. The United States welcomed the development, saying it was encouraged by the opposition's statements supporting non-violence, and blamed the mounting death toll on the Syrian authorities. Local activists said a military operation on Monday focused on Talbiseh near Homs, 150 km (94 miles) north of Damascus, after security forces entered the nearby town of Rastan, which lies on the highway between the capital and the northern city of Aleppo. For about a week, tank- and helicopter-backed troops have battled insurgents and army deserters in Rastan, in the most sustained fighting since Syria's uprising began in March. The official Syrian news agency said on Saturday government forces had regained control of the town. "Tank fire targeted Talbiseh this morning and communications remain cut. The town was key in supplying Rastan and now it is being punished for that," one activist said. "House to house arrests are continuing in the area for the second day." Armed insurgents, mostly in the central Homs region and the northwestern province of Idlib, have been so far outgunned. Activists said dozens of villagers had been arrested in Talbiseh in the past 48 hours and there were deaths and casualties from the raids. Information also was scarce from Rastan, which has been sealed off since tanks moved in at the weekend. Activists said hundreds of people were believed to have been arrested and held in schools and factories in the town. Events on the ground are difficult to verify as the authorities have expelled independent journalists from the country or banned them from working, although some foreign reporters have been allowed to visit. DIPLOMATS HARASS DISSIDENTS, AMNESTY SAYS Amnesty International ssaid that Syrian diplomats in foreign capitals are mounting campaigns of harassment and threats against expatriate dissidents protesting outside their embassies. Syrian opposition supporters have mounted noisy protests outside many embassies in recent months as the government of Bashar al-Assad has tried to put down unrest with what observers say has been a bloody crackdown. Amnesty said on Tuesday that embassy officials had filmed and threatened some of those involved in protests outside Syria, and that in some cases relatives in Syria had been deliberately targeted for harassment, detention, torture and outright disappearance. "Expatriate Syrians have been trying, through peaceful protest, to highlight abuses that we consider amount to crimes against humanity - and that presents a threat to the Syrian regime," said Neil Sammonds, Amnesty International's Syria researcher. Syrian officials have generally denied reports of human rights abuses, with the Assad government saying it has no choice but to restore law and order and avert chaos. MUFTI'S SON ASSASSINATED While some Assad opponents have taken up arms, others are still staging demonstrations against his 11-year rule. Night protests erupted on Sunday in several districts of Homs, where a crowd in the Khalidiya district shouted, "Homs is free." A surge in sectarian killings has heightened tensions in the city. The state news agency said "armed terrorist groups" killed five people there on Monday. Residents said two bodies had turned up in the city's Sunni Qarabid neighbourhood. Homs has a mixed population, with a few Alawite neighbourhoods inhabited by members of Assad's minority sect, alongside others populated by majority Sunni Muslims. Underlining the turn towards violence, the authorities said Sariya Hassoun, the son of Mufti Ahmad Hassoun, Syria's state-appointed top cleric, was assassinated in Idlib on Sunday. It was the first attack on the state-backed Sunni clergy who have backed Assad for decades, despite widespread Sunni resentment at Alawite dominance. Assad, 46, who succeeded his father in 2000, blames the violence on foreign-backed armed gangs. His officials say 700 police and soldiers have died, as well as 700 "mutineers". As Syria's struggle has grown bloodier, claiming at least 2,700 lives so far, according to a U.N. count, demonstrators have begun to demand some form of international protection that stops short of Libya-style Western military intervention. A statement issued in Istanbul on Sunday by a newly formed opposition National Council rejected intervention that "compromises Syria's sovereignty", but said the outside world had a humanitarian obligation to protect the Syrian people. "The Council demands that international governments and organisations meet their responsibility to support the Syrian people, protect them and stop the crimes and gross human rights violations being committed by the current illegitimate regime." The council said the uprising must remain peaceful but that military assaults, torture and mass arrests were driving Syria "to the edge of civil war and inviting foreign interference". It also said the Muslim Brotherhood, the Damascus Declaration -- which groups established opposition figures -- and grassroots activists had all joined the Council. (Writing by Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Amman newsroom; Editing by Michael Roddy) Copyright © 2008 Reuters | ||
| Italian appeal court clears Amanda Knox of murder Posted: 03 Oct 2011 05:50 PM PDT PERUGIA, Italy (Reuters) - Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend left prison after four years on Monday when an Italian appeals court cleared them of the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher.
Seattle native Knox and Italian computer student Raffaele Sollecito, had appealed against a 2009 verdict that found them guilty of murdering the 21-year-old Kercher during what prosecutors had said was a drug-fuelled sexual assault four years ago. A whoop of joy was heard in the court as the ruling overturning their sentences was read out but Knox herself broke down and was led out sobbing and supported by police officers. "As you could see from the images, Amanda was a nervous wreck who just collapsed. She wasn't able to say anything other than 'thank you' in a flood of tears," one of her lawyers, Maria Del Grosso, told reporters. Speaking to a crowd outside the courtroom, Knox's sister Deanna thanked her legal team and supporters. "We're thankful that Amanda's nightmare is over. She suffered for four years for a crime she did not commit," she said. "We are also thankful to the court for having the courage to look for the truth and to overturn the conviction." The verdict, a severe embarrassment to the Italian justice system, came after independent forensic investigators sharply criticised police scientific evidence in the original investigation, saying it was unreliable. Kercher's half-naked body, with more than 40 wounds and a deep gash in the throat, was found in 2007 in the apartment she shared with Knox in the Umbrian hill town of Perugia where both were studying. Both Knox and Sollecito, 27, consistently had maintained their innocence throughout the original investigation and trial. A third man, Ivorian drug dealer Rudy Guede, was imprisoned for 16 years for his role in the murder. Knox returned briefly to the Perugia jail where she had been held to complete formalities before being driven away to an unknown destination in a black Mercedes with shaded windows. She is expected to return to the United States on Tuesday although it was not immediately clear whether she would be returning on a regular flight or on a private plane. Sollecito, who had been held in a separate jail near Perugia, also left custody but his lawyer refused to say where he would be spending his first night of freedom. "It was obvious that he had nothing to do with the death of that poor girl," Sollecito's father, a doctor, said after the verdict which he said had "given me back my son". The court upheld a conviction against Knox for slander, after she had falsely accused barman Patrick Lumumba of the murders. It sentenced her to three years in prison, a sentence which she has now already served. STUNNED The verdict left many questions regarding the murder open and Kercher's family members sat stunned in the court long after the others had left. Meredith's sister Stephanie was in tears. "We respect the decision of the judges but we do not understand how the decision from the first trial could be so radically overturned," the Kerchers said in a statement released through the British embassy. "We still trust the Italian judicial system and hope that the truth will eventually emerge." Knox's lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova said his client would be marked by the case for life and by the memory of her friend Meredith but wanted to get back to normal life. "She's a girl who wants to live, she wants to go home, she wants to go to Seattle, she wants to be with her family and so I think she will spend some time to get over these four years in prison," he said. The appeal trial gripped attention on both sides of the Atlantic, with an outpouring of sympathy and outrage from many in the United States who saw the American as an innocent girl trapped abroad in the clutches of a medieval justice system. Supporters celebrated in Knox's home town of Seattle, shouting in triumph as the verdict was carried live on television. "I'm hugely relieved," said John Lange, who taught Knox's high school drama class at Seattle Preparatory School. "When I knew her she was kind, hard-working and a team player. There was not a mean bone in her body," he said, wiping away tears with a tissue. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. embassy in Rome would continue to assist the Knox family. "The United States appreciates the careful consideration of this matter within the Italian judicial system," she said. A powerful lobbying campaign by her family played a big part in changing perceptions of Knox from the promiscuous "Foxy Knoxy" of early media reports and the cold-blooded, sex-obsessed "she-devil" portrayed by prosecutors. But the verdict was not universally welcomed and outside the court hundreds of people whistled, booed and shouted "Shame, shame" and "bastards" at the courtroom and at U.S. TV crews. QUESTIONS During the appeals trial Knox's plight in jail dominated much of the reporting, leaving Kercher's family feeling that the real victim of the crime had been pushed to one side. "Mez has been almost forgotten in all of this," her sister Stephanie said before the verdict, as the family emphasised that the brutality of the crime must not be forgotten. Kercher, a Leeds University student from Coulsdon in Surrey, was on a year-long exchange programme in Perugia when she was murdered, bringing a flood of unwelcome attention to the medieval town in central Italy that her family said she loved. The murder investigation showed she was pinned down and stabbed to death and evidence suggests that Guede did not act alone, although Monday's verdict left it unclear who else might have been involved. Prosecutors had said that Kercher resisted attempts by Knox, Sollecito and Guede to involve her in an orgy. Their case was weakened by forensic experts who dismissed police evidence that traces of DNA belonging to Knox and Kercher were found on a kitchen knife identified as the murder weapon. The experts also said alleged traces of Sollecito's DNA on the Briton's bra clasp may have been contaminated. The defence argued that no clear motive or evidence linking the defendants to the crime had emerged, and said Knox was falsely implicated in the murder by prosecutors determined to convict her regardless of the evidence. (Writing by James Mackenzie, Editing by Michael Roddy) Copyright © 2011 Reuters |
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