Security forces on Thursday arrested blogger Razan Ghazzawi, icon of the 11-month uprising in Syria, along with rights activist Mazen Darwish and 12 others, opposition figures said.

Draft Resolution: Syrian Arab Republic

United Nation General Assembly - 14/February/2012

The shocking story of one family forced to flee Syria for refuge in neighbouring Jordan exchanging their home in Tasil for al-Ramtha Syrian Refugees’ Transitional Camp. For their safety we’ve concealed their real identity.

Syria: ‘The man they were shooting at is actually my husband’

By Maha Abu Shama, Amnesty International’s Syria campaigner

In a week of winding our way to a refugee camp near the Syrian border, we spoke to dozens of people who had fled the violence, but remarkably few of them were women.

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Brother of killed Syrian activist at risk: Hazem Taisir Mattar

Amnesty International 16-02-2012

Hazem Taisir Mattar, brother of killed Syrian activist Ghayath Mattar, has been missing from his hometown of Daraya, Syria , since 7 February. There are fears he may have been arrested and is now held in secret detention in conditions amounting to enforced disappearance. If so, he is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.

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Human rights defenders arrested in SCM's offices

By EMHRN 17/02/2012

Copenhagen, Geneva, Paris, February 16, 2012 - The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) fears for the safety and security of 14 human rights defenders who were arrested this afternoon in the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM)'s offices.

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How much blood must we pay before the world helps?

17-02-2012

In his shocking report from the border with Syria, Amnesty International’s Researcher Neil Sammonds reveals the extent of the torture experienced by those arrested in Syria – treatment reaching unprecedented levels of brutality.

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Fears for activists arrested in Damascus raid

16 February 2012

The Syrian authorities must release or charge a group of at least 14 people arrested on Thursday in a raid on the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression in Damascus, Amnesty International said today.

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Joint Amnesty International-Human Rights Watch letter to all members of the UN General Assembly‏

To All Members of the UN General Assembly:

Dear Ambassador,

Unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, and torture -- have continued unabated in Syria following the veto by Russia and China of a draft Security Council resolution condemning the widespread and gross violations of human rights in the country.

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Death toll rises as bombardment of civilian areas escalates in Homs

Amnesty International 15-02-2012

At least 377 civilians have been killed in Homs in recent days as Syrian security forces escalated their shelling of civilian neighbourhoods in the besieged city.

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Stop Shelling of Residential Areas, Hundreds Killed, Wounded in Homs, Denied Medical Care

(New York, February 9, 2012) – The Syrian government should immediately stop its shelling of residential neighborhoods in the city of Homs, Human Rights Watch said today. Since February 3, 2012, the attacks have killed more than 300 persons in the city, according to Syrian monitoring groups, and wounded hundreds others, including women and children.

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UN human rights chief blasts Syrian failure

New York - Agencies

Wednesday, 08 February 2012

The UN\'s human rights chief Navi Pillay released a statement severly condemning the failure of the international community to stop the daily bloodshed in Syria.

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Syria- Arrest and incommunicado detention of human rights defender and lawyer: Mr. Abdulla Al Khalil

8 February 2012

On 3 February 2012 human rights defender and lawyer Mr Abdulla Al Khalil was arrested in Al Riqqa and is currently being held in incommunicado detention. Abdulla Al Khalil, a member of the Detainees Defence Team in Al Riqqa,

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Brutal assault on Homs must end

8 February 2012

Russia and other countries with influence over Syria must act urgently to stop the bombardment of Homs, Amnesty International said today.

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Stop Torture of Children; Security Forces Detain Juveniles, Occupy Schools

February 3, 2012

(New York) – Syrian army and security officers have detained and tortured children with impunity during the past year, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch has documented at least 12 cases of children detained under inhumane conditions and tortured, as well as children shot while in their homes or on the street.

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On February 11, 2011, Husni Mubarak resigned as President of Egypt after nearly 30 years in power, echoing the end of Tunisian President Zine El-'Abidine Ben 'Ali's 23-year rule on January 15, 2011. Armed conflict rages in Libya while Syrian military units put down protests in Homs, Hama, and Dayr al-Zor. Bahrain, Jordan, Yemen, and other Arab countries have also seen protests of varying intensity.

The Enforced Disappeared in Syria

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The story of those missing in Syrian prisons is the story of a country that has devoured its own sons. The enforced disappearances of oppositionists and the impunity of the perpetrators is the price paid for the “Kingdom of Silence” established by the authoritarian and abusive Syrian regime. Among the portfolio of human rights violations in Syria, the issue of persons forcibly disappeared in particular has become a national disaster. While the missing number in the thousands, deleterious effects extend to hundreds of thousands of Syrian citizens who were stripped of their political and civil rights. The phenomenon has led to the psychological, social, and economic destruction of many Syrian communities for more than 30 years.

This is hard to report, but Avaaz’s own members are being tortured by Syria’s monstrous regime. Manhal* reports that he was held in a secret prison where they pulled out his fingernails and toenails and electrocuted his body parts. "I have seen death, and I’ve been tortured nearly to death,” he's told us. But if we act now, we can make Manhal's sacrifice the last straw that turns the whole world against the Assad regime.

Middle East and North Africa: Protest and repression set to continue in 2012

Please Click here to Read Full Report - PDF File

Year of Rebellion

The state of human rights in the Middleast and North Africa

Repression and state violence is likely to continue to plague the Middle East and North Africa in 2012 unless governments in the region and international powers wake up to the scale of the changes being demanded of them, Amnesty International warned today in a new report into the dramatic events of the last year.

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Report of the independent international commission of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic

Human Rights Council

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The deteriorating situation in the Syrian Arab Republic prompted the Human Rights  Council to establish an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate alleged violations of human rights since March 2011. From the end of September until mid- November 2011, the commission held meetings with Member States from all regional groups, regional organizations, including the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, non-governmental organizations, human rights defenders, journalists and experts. It interviewed 223 victims and witnesses of alleged human rights violations, including civilians and defectors from the military and the security forces. In the present report, the commission documents patterns of summary execution, arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance, torture, including sexual violence, as well as violations of children’s rights.

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Crackdown on Protesters in the Governorate of Homs

November 11, 2011

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This report is based on more than 110 interviews with victims and witnesses from Homs, both the city and the surrounding governorate of the same name. The area has emerged as a center of opposition to the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The report focuses on violations by Syrian security forces from mid-April to the end of August, during which time security forces killed at least 587 civilians, the highest number of casualties for any single governorate.

Read the Press Release

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Syria: Crimes Against Humanity in Homs

For Immediate Release

Arab League Should Suspend Syria

(New York, November 11, 2011) – The systematic nature of abuses against civilians in Homs by Syrian government forces, including torture and unlawful killings, indicate that crimes against humanity have been committed, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Human Rights Watch urged the Arab League, meeting in Cairo on November 12, 2011, to suspend Syria’s membership in the League and to ask the United Nations Security Council to impose an arms embargo and sanctions against individuals responsible for the violations, and refer Syria to the International Criminal Court.

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Human Rights Organization Documents Cases of Injured Protesters Being Beaten by Security Agents in Hospitals

Wounded Patients in Syria’s Hospitals are Tortured, Along with Medical Staff Suspected of Treating Injured Protesters, Says New Amnesty International Report

(New York) -- The Syrian government has turned hospitals into instruments of repression in its efforts to crush opposition, Amnesty International said today in a new report that documents the torture of injured patients and of medical professionals suspected of treating wounded protesters.

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Climate of fear in Syria's hospitals as patients and medics targeted

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25 October 2011
The Syrian government has turned hospitals into instruments of repression in its efforts to crush opposition, Amnesty International said today in a new report.  The 39-page report Health Crisis: Syrian Government Targets the Wounded and Health Workers documents how wounded patients in at least four government-run hospitals have been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, including by medical workers.

Click Here to Watch the YouTube Video about the report

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Campaign to silence protesters overseas revealed

Amnesty International

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Syrian protesters in Europe and the Americas have been systematically monitored and harassed by embassy officials and others believed to be acting on behalf of the Syrian regime, Amnesty International said today in a new briefing paper. The Long Reach of the Mukhabaraat includes cases of more than 30 activists in eight countries - Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the USA – who say that they have faced intimidation from embassy officials and others and that their relatives in Syria have as a result, in some cases, apparently been exposed to harassment, detention and even torture.

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Deaths in custody amid popular protest in Syria

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Since the end of 2010, millions of people across the Middle East and North Africa region have taken to the streets to call for greater rights and freedom and the replacement of authoritarian regimes. In Syria, ruled with an iron hand by Hafez al-Assad from 1971 to 2000 and since then by his son Bashar al-Assad, small demonstrations were held in February but evolved into mass protests only in mid-March. Since then, the protests have spread nationwide on an unprecedented scale and with a momentum that shows no sign of abating despite severe government repression which has seen many hundreds of people killed.

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Report reveals crimes against humanity in Syrian town

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Report reveals crimes against humanity in Syrian town

Crackdown in Syria: Terror in Tell Kalakh documents deaths in custody, torture and arbitrary detention that took place in May when Syrian army and security forces mounted a broad security sweep, lasting less than a week, against residents of the town near the Lebanese border.

 

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The present report is a compilation of the information contained in the reports of treaty bodies, special procedures, including observations and comments by the State concerned, and other relevant official United Nations documents.

It does not contain any opinions, views or suggestions on the part of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), other than those contained in public reports issued by OHCHR. It follows the structure of the general guidelines adopted by the Human Rights Council. Information included herein has been systematically referenced in endnotes. The report has been prepared taking into consideration the four-year periodicity of the first cycle of the review.