======================================================================
Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
======================================================================
NY Times September 1, 2011
Syrian Official in Hama Resigns to Protest Bloodshed
By NADA BAKRI
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The attorney general of the central Syrian province of
Hama has announced his resignation to protest the killings and arrests
of demonstrators and the accusations of torture against President Bashar
al-Assad’s government. The attorney general, Mohammed Adnan al-Bakkour,
is the highest-level official to quit over the brutal crackdown during
the five months of protests.
In a video released late Wednesday night, Mr. Bakkour listed a number of
reasons for his decision, saying, among other things, that hundreds of
demonstrators had been killed while in jail and buried in mass graves
and that the army had leveled houses while people were still inside.
He announced his resignation as Syrian security forces continued to
carry out house-to-house raids in Hama on Thursday in search of people
involved in the uprising against Mr. Assad, according to activists and
residents. Dozens of people were arrested in similar raids on Wednesday,
residents said.
The Local Coordination Committees, a group of activists who help to
organize and document the uprising, said that four people were killed
Thursday when security forces opened fire on demonstrations. One person
was killed in the central city of Homs, one in the northern province of
Idlib and two, including a child, in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour,
the group said.
Mr. Bakkour said in the video that he had been forced to falsify reports
during the crackdown and that 10,000 people had been arrested.
He said that 72 prisoners, including demonstrators and activists, had
been killed on July 31, the day that troops backed by tanks attacked the
city of Hama, one of the most restive areas since the uprising against
Mr. Assad began in mid-March. Activists have said that 130 people were
killed that day.
Mr. Bakkour said he had been forced to issue a report saying that the
more than 420 people killed by the security forces and buried in mass
graves had instead been killed by armed gangs. The government has blamed
Muslim extremist groups for the unrest and said it is facing a foreign
conspiracy to divide the country.
In addition, Mr. Bakkour said that 320 people had died from torture at
police stations.
His resignation represented a major blow to the government of Mr. Assad,
who has dismissed all criticism of his crackdown on pro-democracy
activists and ignored calls by other governments to step down.
The government denied that Mr. Bakkour had resigned, saying that he had
been kidnapped along with his driver by an armed group on Monday and
forced to give the statement.
Omar Idlibi, an activist with the Local Coordination Committees, said
that Mr. Bakkour left Hama this week and was in hiding.
“He knows every single detail about the crimes committed by the
authorities,” Mr. Idlibi said. With the information and details provided
by Mr. Bakkour, “we will be able to take the regime to the International
Criminal Court,” Mr. Idlibi said.
The Syrian Army, security forces and other troops raided Hama on July
31, the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, to crush the opposition
there.
The United Nations has said that at least 2,200 people have been killed
in Syria during the uprising. A Syrian human rights group said that 551
people were killed during Ramadan alone, 250 of them in Hama, which was
also the scene of a ferocious government crackdown in 1982.
In Hama, residents welcomed the news of Mr. Bakkour’s resignation, which
came a day after tanks returned to the city. “It is a scandal for the
government,” said Abu Ayham, who lives in Hama. Another resident, who
gave his name only as Ahmad, said, “It will have huge repercussions, God
willing.”
Hwaida Saad contributed reporting.
________________________________________________
Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
Set your options at:
http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
