Protesters gather during a demonstration in the southern town of Nawa, near Deraa. (File Photo)
The Muslim Brotherhood called on Syrians to take to the streets ahead of Friday prayers as the United Nations Human Rights Council meets in Geneva to seek condemnation of a crackdown by the government of President Bashar al-Assad on protesters. An international probe into the violence may result from today’s meeting.
In its call, the Muslim Brotherhood urged an immediate help to the besieged city of Deraa, where a rights group said civilian deaths from a tank-backed army attack rose to 50.
It was the first time that the Brotherhood, ruthlessly crushed along with secular leftist movements under the rule of late President Hafez al-Assad in February 1982, had called directly for protests in Syria since pro-democracy demonstrations against his son, Bashar, erupted six weeks ago.
A declaration by the Brotherhood, sent to Reuters by its leadership in exile on Thursday, said: “Do not let the regime besiege your compatriots. Chant with one voice for freedom and dignity. Do not allow the tyrant to enslave you. God is great.”
The protests have attracted a cross section of Syrian society, which has been under Baath Party rule for the last 48 years. President Assad, 46, kept intact the autocratic political system he inherited in 2000 after his father’s death while the family expanded its control over Syria’s struggling economy.
The Brotherhood said accusations by the authorities that militant Islamists were behind the unrest were aimed at fomenting civil war and undermining nationwide demands for political freedoms and an end to corruption.
But Friday, the Muslim day of rest and prayers, has been the main opportunity for protesters to gather, challenging repeated warnings by the authorities not to demonstrate.
Security forces shot dead at least 120 protesters last Friday, said Syrian human rights organization Sawasiah, in the biggest demonstrations Syria has seen since the democratic uprising erupted in Deraa on March 18, with pro-democracy protests spreading to regions across the rest of Syria.
Three days later, the Fourth Mechanized Division, under the control of President Assad’s brother, Maher stormed Deraa, echoing their father’s 1982 attack on the city of Hama to crush a revolt led by the Muslim Brotherhood, killing anywhere between 10,000 and 30,000 people.
Mr. Assad tightened the security grip in and around Damascus on Thursday, with various security forces and secret police units deploying in the nearby towns, Erbin and Tel; in the Damascus district of Barzeh; and the suburbs of Douma and Daraya, rights activists and witnesses said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack on Deraa has killed at least 50 civilians, with essential supplies in the city running low.
Rights groups said that the Syrian government’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests has led to at least 453 civilian deaths, and possibly more.
Ambassadors of European Union governments to Brussels plan to meet on Friday to discuss the possibility of imposing sanctions against Syria, which could include asset freezes and travel restrictions on key officials.
Other EU measures against Syria could include freezing financial aid, which amounts to 43 million euros ($64 million) a year. The United States has already announced such restrictions on the Assad family.
The UN Human Rights Council, meanwhile, will hold a special session on Syria on Friday where the United States is seeking condemnation of a crackdown on protests and an international probe into the violence.
The meeting, requested by 10 European nations, the US, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Senegal and Zambia, will open at 0900 GMT.
A draft resolution tabled by the United States calls on the 47-member Council to agree to “urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry … to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law” in Syria, according to Agence-France Presse.
The proposal also “strongly condemns the killing, arrest and torture of hundreds of peaceful protesters by the Syrian government” and “stresses the need to investigate… and prosecute those responsible for attacks.”
Traditional Syrian allies such as Russia, China, Cuba, as well as Islamic countries like Malaysia and Pakistan are also members of the Council, along with other Arab states.
Campaigners said behind-the-scenes haggling was underway on the US proposal after world powers clashed over Syria in the UN Security Council.
Rights activists hoped that Friday’s hearing in Geneva would be a blow to Syria’s candidacy for membership of the body from 2012 to 2014.
Damascus said in its bid submitted in New York on March 1 that its bid “signifies its commitment to respect and to support the inalienable and indivisible nature of all human rights.”
The UN General Assembly is expected to vote on new Council members in May.
(Abeer Tayel of Al Arabiya can be reached at: abeer.tayel@mbc.net)
source : alarabiya
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