Cairo (dailynewyorknews) – The Syrian authorities have moved or even hundreds of detainees to military installations to hide the monitors of the Arab League in order to assess whether the government is to defend a commitment to end its crackdown on protesters, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.
“Syria has shown that it will stop at nothing to undermine the independent control of repression,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Subterfuge of Syria, it is essential for the Arab League to draw clear lines in the access to prisoners, and be willing to speak when the lines cross.”
The Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Walid Moallem, told The Independent last week that international observers could move in the country “under the protection” of government, but was not allowed to visit military sites sensitive.
HRW said it was informed by a security guard Syrian Homs his prison director had ordered the transfer of about 400 to 600 detainees at its detention center elsewhere.
“The transfer of quotas has arrived,” the official said, according to HRW. “Some detainees were transferred to jeeps and a few civilians in trucks. My role was inside the prison, the collection of prisoners and put them in cars. My command of the prison were arrested for the important move “the official said, according to HRW.
He said officials told him that the detainees were taken to a military Zaidal missile factory, outside of Homs.
Other witnesses corroborated his account, according to HRW.
The Syrian security official also said that the government issued identification cards police military officials, according to the group of human rights. HRW said it was a document that appears to be in the Syrian Ministry of Defense ordered the transfer of staff from the Ministry of Defence Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the police.
“The wearing military police uniforms to comply with the Arab League calls for withdrawing the army,” said Sarah Leah Whitson. “The Arab League to cut through the deception of the Syrian government to press for full access inmates throughout Syria is underway. ”
Jamal Barakat, a member of the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights, said he is part of the mission of the Arab League. He said Arab League Secretary-General Nabil El-Araby had “stressed the importance of neutrality, objectivity and transparency of our work” during the research mission.
During the mission visited areas include the provinces of Homs, Idlib, Hama, Damascus, and Dara, El-Araby, he said.
In Washington, the spokesman for the State Department as Mark Toner said the Syrian government has used the last few days – before the arrival of international observers during the weekend and Monday – to increase their attacks in Daraa and other cities. “They saw an opportunity before the monitors of the Arab League to come,” he said.
“Obviously, to see these people to be courageous in their pursuit of the truth of what is happening on the ground, and ask, or demand that Syrian authorities to allow full access to the Syrian people to take their mission. ”
In Syria, the continued killing, with demonstrators attacking the security forces in the Syrian cities of Homs and Hama, Tuesday, witnesses told CNN.
An opposition group said 39 people, including two children, died Tuesday. Four deaths occurred along the border with Lebanon, 14 in Homs, three at the University of Damascus, Daraa four, four in the suburbs of Damascus, Hama and Idlib three, two in Deir ez-Zor and one in Saraqeb and Latakia, said local Coordinating Committees of Syria, a militant group that organizes and displays documents.
Security forces fired tear gas and bullets against the demonstrators on the Place de l’Horloge in the center of Homs, where thousands had gathered, said Lubna, a resident of Homs who cited problems Security asking that his name not fully utilized. He said he saw seven wounded and arrested dozens of people.
The Observatory of the London-based Syrian Human Rights, an opposition activist group with contacts across the country, said more than 70,000 protesters tried to enter the square, but were dispersed by security forces.
Danielle M. Moussa gave a similar account of events in the northern suburbs of the city of Khalidiah, where thousands of people had gathered. “I saw several turned and ran,” said Moussa, an opposition activist whose group has worked to recover bodies.
About 35,000 protesters had appeared in the district of Khalidiah, reported local coordinating committees of Syria, an opposition activist network that organizes events and documents.
The agency estimates that the influx of protesters at 20,000 Khalidiah.
Lubna said thousands of protesters left up to the clock Khalidiah, when they learned observers of the Arab League was set up in the center, also the site of the police department and government buildings in the city.
The observatory also reported gunfire near Baba Amr district of Homs. He said security forces fired on mourners at the funeral for the dead on Monday.
The LCC reported that “an intense fire and the presence of snipers targeting anything that moves in the gardens of Baba and Jober Amr.”
Alaa Shalaby, a member of the team ahead of the Arab League, said Lt. Gen. Mustafa Mohamed Ahmed Al-Dhabi Sudan, the head of the observer mission was to return to Damascus, but was maintained 10 monitors in Homs.
Shalaby said residents rushed to the monitors and security forces fired warning shots.
Videos showed protesters Hama amid sounds of gunfire. Avaaz, a political activist group, said that “the mass demonstrations were held in Hama today after the news reached the city of arrival of the observers of the Arab League. The protesters tried to reach the Assi Plaza but were arrested by security forces opened fire on them. ”
The LCC said three people were killed and “wounded dozens of neighborhoods and Barodiyeh Mourabet after security forces opened fire on protesters trying to reach the place Assi”.
The research team followed the Arab League of the Arab League initiative that calls the forces of President Bashar al-Assad to withdraw the safety of cities, release prisoners and end the violence.
The monitors arrived in the midst of opposition members said it was a military siege of protesters in recent days in Homs, the third largest city of Syria.
The Observatory calls for the withdrawal of government forces reported a misleading “show” for monitors of the Arab League. He said at least 11 tanks had been repositioned in government facilities in the city where they could quickly return to their previous positions.
“It shows his (al-Assad regime) attempt to circumvent the mission of the Arab League to give credibility to their stories of false and deny the fact crystal clear that there is a major political crisis and a” popular revolution ” by all standards, for the Syrian people who are trying to regain power, freedom and dignity, “said the observatory on his Facebook page.
Observers of the Arab League “have access to anywhere you want, freely,” said a senior team to advance in the league.
“The protocol requires that the Syrian security guard monitors only for entrances to the city only. According to the protocol, each party on earth has the right to contact with instructors as they please” said the official, who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
The team consists of 12 international observers, the official said.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on the funerals of “martyrs” of the army and security forces were killed by “armed terrorists” – a term used to describe Syria responsible for the violence during the uprising.
The news agency said that “an armed terrorist group” was responsible for sabotaging a pipeline in the province of Homs Tuesday.
CNN can not verify the accounts of the opposition of violence or reports of casualties in Syria. The Assad government has restricted the access of international journalists.
The troubles in Syria began in March when demonstrators, emboldened by the democratic movements in Tunisia and Egypt, called for open elections and political freedom and asked the late actions brutal regime. The movement quickly fell into a call for the expulsion of al-Assad regime that raged against peaceful demonstrators.
The uprising began without the Syrian army, a rebel force made up of deserters from the army, and efforts to create a separatist government. Other opposition groups, including the National Syrian emerged.
The Arab League was deported to Syria for its repression. Al-Assad has been under enormous pressure from the Arab League, Turkey, the United States and the European Union to end the violence.
More than 5,000 people have died since mid-March, where al-Assad began the repression of anti-government protesters calling for his dismissal, the United Nations said this month. However, activist groups, such as Avaaz and LCC, said the figure of over 6,000.
Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/27/world/meast/syria-unrest/index.html?hpt=imi_c1
