Damascus, Sep 1 (IANS/AKI) A senior Syrian law official has resigned over online video-posting site YouTube in protest against the government’s violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.
Announcing his resignation, the Attorney-General of the Syrian city of Hama said: ‘I, Judge Adnan Mohammad al-Bakkour, Hama province Attorney-General, declare that I have resigned in protest of the savage regime’s practices against peaceful demonstrators.’
Over 2,000 people have been killed during the uprising that began in March and thousands of others arrested, according to media reports and human rights groups.
The expulsion of independent foreign media from Syria made it difficult to confirm the news or events but, if confirmed, Bakkour’s resignation would be the first high-profile resignation from President Bashar al-Assad’s government since protests broke out in March.
Denying the reports by the state-controlled media suggesting that he had been abducted on his way to work, Bakkour said he is under the protection of rebel inhabitants and in good health.
He accused Syrian forces of killing 72 arrested protesters in the Hama city jail during the lead up to a July 31 military offensive.
On Aug 1, reports put the toll from the assault at 140.
Bakkour put the number of victims – excluding those killed in jail – at 420, many of whom were buried in mass graves in a park.
In a report Wednesday, human rights group Amnesty International said it believed 88 people arrested by Syrian authorities during the five-month uprising had been killed, mostly after being tortured.
‘This is the truth about what has happened and what is happening in Hama. ‘Do not think God is ignoring the deeds of the oppressors’,’ he said.
–IANS/AKI
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