The Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) is a local non-profit, non-partisan Lebanese human rights organization in Beirut that was established by the Franco-Lebanese Movement SOLIDA (Support for Lebanese Detained Arbitrarily) in 2006. SOLIDA has been active since 1996 in the struggle against arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and the impunity of those perpetrating gross human violations.

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March 31, 2012

Naharnet - Canadian Farmer Released from Lebanese Prison, March 31st 2012


A Canadian potato farmer who was arrested in Lebanon a year ago has been released from prison in Beirut and is expected to arrive home on Saturday, officials said.
Henk Tepper, 44, one of Canada's largest potato growers, was arrested in Lebanon in March 2011 under an Interpol warrant for allegedly selling bad produce to Algeria.
"I am pleased that Canadian consular officials have helped secure the release of Mr. Henk Tepper," Canadian Foreign Minister Diane Ablonczy said in a statement.
New Brunswick Senator, Pierrette Ringuette, who had lobbied the government in Ottawa to secure Tepper's release, said she was concerned about his health.
"The Henk Tepper I've visited in Beirut has lost about 40 pounds, his eyes are red, his back is curved as if he was carrying a bag of a hundred pounds of potatoes on his back," she said.
Tepper was on an agricultural trade mission arranged by the Canadian government when he was arrested in response to the warrant.
Algeria was seeking his transfer to prosecute him for allegedly selling 3,800 metric tons of potatoes to the country in October 2007 which it claims were "dangerous to humans if consumed."
Algeria further claimed that Tepper had forged Canadian documents certifying the quality of the potatoes to sneak them past customs.
Tepper, through his Canadian lawyer Rodney Gillis, denied the accusations.

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/35286

March 20, 2012

L'Orient Le Jour - Brèves judiciaires, March 20, 2012


...et contre Georges et Michel Tanalian accusés d’assassinats en série
Le premier juge d’instruction militaire, Riad Abou Ghida, a requis la peine capitale, dans un acte d’accusation, à l’encontre des deux détenus, de nationalité syrienne, Georges et Michel Tanalian, sur base de l’article 549 du code pénal. Il a émis un mandat d’arrêt contradictoire à l’encontre des deux accusés et les a déférés devant le tribunal militaire permanent. Les deux frères, accusés de meurtres en série, ont assassiné le caporal au sein de l’armée libanaise, Ziyad Dib, le 11 novembre 2011, à proximité du fleuve de Beyrouth. Ils l’avaient abattu au moyen d’une arme à feu non autorisée. Le malheureux est la onzième victime des deux assassins en l’espace de quinze mois.

The Daily Star - Woman in her 80s victim of sexual assault, March 20, 2012


BEIRUT: A woman in her 80s was the victim of sexual assault, the National News Agency reported Monday.
The NNA said that residents of the Burj al-Shemali Palestinian refugee camp discovered a woman, 81, who had been beaten and was the victim of a sexual assault, lying in a nearby orchard.
Palestinian security personnel from the Armed Struggle faction in the camp investigated the incident and detained a 30-year-old man and turned him over to the Lebanese Army, the NNA said.
Relatives of the woman, who was taken to hospital in a coma, staged a short protest upon hearing of the incident.  

The daily Star - Tribunal sentences Lebanese collaborators to death, hard labor, March 20, 2012



By Youssef Diab

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Military Tribunal sentenced a Lebanese man to death in absentia and five others to hard labor Monday night for collaborating with Israel and providing it with information about Hezbollah's bases in south Lebanon.
Brig. Gen. Khalil Ibrahim sentenced Ahmad Husein Abdallah to death in absentia, Hussein Mohammad Ali Musa to seven years of hard labor and Jaafar Halawi to three years of hard labor.
The three men had been convicted of collaborating with Israel, providing it with information regarding Hezbollah's bases in south Lebanon and political figures in the country, as well as engaging in secret machinations and helping the Jewish State to triumph militarily over Lebanon.
The period of their collaboration extended from shortly after the 2006 war between Lebanon and Israel until 2009. During that time, Musa provided Israel with information regarding Hezbollah bases in various areas of the country. Musa’s contact with Israel was severed in 2009 when he lied to an unnamed Israeli officer about his whereabouts.
In a separate trial, Saeb Mohammad Aoun was sentenced to hard labor for life, Mohammad Hasan Abdallah to seven years of hard labor and Nabil Zaytoun to three years of hard labor.
Aoun, Abdallah and Zaytoun had collaborated with Israel from 1982 until 1988 and renewed their work in 2000 following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from south Lebanon.
All the convicts have been stripped of their civil rights.




The Daily Star - Rival MPs feud over charges of collaboration, March 20, 2012


By Wassim Mroueh

BEIRUT: Future Movement MP Khaled Daher traded barbs with rival March 8 lawmakers Monday over accusations of collaborating with foreign countries and remarks over a subversive cell recently discovered by the Lebanese Army.
Speaking to reporters at Parliament, Daher defended himself against accusations by Baabda MP Alain Aoun and Jezzine MP Ziad Aswad from the Free Patriotic Movement bloc, and Baalbek-Hermel MP Ghazi Zeaiter, that his denial of the presence of a subversive cell in the Army undermined the military.
“We reject exploiting these institutions and [reject that] some Shabbiha [thugs] in [Army] intelligence insult people and fabricate accusations against the innocent, such as what happened with ... officer cadet Suhaib al-Qass and soldier Abdel-Qader Noaman,” Daher said, referring to two soldiers who were detained on suspicion of belonging to a subversive cell discovered by the Army last week.
Daher complained that although Investigative Judge Najat Abu Shaqra ordered the release of the two soldiers, “the military prosecutor’s office opposed the move because media outlets were reporting that [this] terrorist Salafist cell had been discovered.”
The lawmaker rejected “spreading the big lie” that a “terrorist Salafist cell” had infiltrated the Lebanese Army.
Daher questioned why MPs from Michel Aoun’s bloc had shown concern about the Army when they “support illegal arms and militias at the expense of the Army,” in reference to their alliance with Hezbollah. “It seems that Iranian money has blinded them.”
Addressing Aswad, Daher said: “You ... said on TV that you were accused of collaborating with Israel and were forbidden from going to the south for a long time” in reference to the period when Israel occupied a strip of south Lebanon.
Responding to Zeaiter, Daher said that he and his March 14 coalition support the state, “but you, and those who back you, undermine institutions and assume their role.”
Daher’s remarks prompted a swift response by Aswad, who arrived in Parliament shortly after Daher’s accusations. Aswad urged Speaker Nabih Berri to lift his and Daher’s immunity. “Let the Lebanese judiciary take action ... and determine whether the collaborator was me or Daher.”
“A person who is now against Syria after standing by its side [when its Army was in Lebanon] ... cannot accuse the Lebanese and people of Jezzine of being collaborators,” Aswad told reporters.
Responding to accusations that his bloc receives Iranian funds, Aswad called on Berri to oblige MPs to make public their bank accounts and their judicial records.


http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Mar-20/167294-rival-mps-feud-over-charges-of-collaboration.ashx#axzz1peKK35TQ



The Daily Star - Judges call for death penalty in murder cases, March 20, 2012



BEIRUT: Two investigative judges called Monday for death penalties to be given to three people charged in separate murder cases, the National News Agency reported.
Sidon’s Investigative Magistrate called Monday for the death penalty to be handed down to a man charged with the February murder of a money changer in the southern coastal city.
Sidon’s Examining Magistrate Mounif Barakat also called for capital punishment for Syrian national Nasser Fares, 22, for the Feb. 28 robbery and murder of Mohammad Natout.
Fares allegedly stabbed Natout to death and robbed $5,000 from his store. He confessed to the crime shortly after his arrest on the day of the killing.
Separately, Beirut Investigative Judge Riad Abu Ghida called for the death penalty to be given to two Syrian brothers, George and Michel Tanielian, who were arrested in November for at least six brutal murders.
An arrest warrant was issued for the brothers and they were referred to the Military Tribunal for trial on charges of murdering Corporal Ziad Dib by shooting him with an unlicensed weapon.
The murder took place on Nov. 11 last year in the area of Jisr al-Wati on the road adjacent to Beirut River.
Dib was allegedly their 11th victim in a 15-month-killing spree that began when they killed a taxi driver and stole his car, which they later used to kill other victims.
Following his arrest, Michel Tanielian told interrogators that he had been responsible for killing 10 people and had attempted to kill two others.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Mar-20/167302-judges-call-for-death-penalty-in-murder-cases.ashx#axzz1peKK35TQ

The Daily Star - ISF detains 6 suspected collaborators, March 20, 2012


By Mohammed Zaatari

SIDON, Lebanon: Six people have been detained by the Internal Security Forces as suspected collaborators, according to security sources.
They said a former member of the South Lebanon Army militia from the village of Kfar Kila had been taken into custody by the ISF’s Information Branch.
The man’s three brothers were also detained for questioning, along with two other residents of the village.
Three of those detained have been transferred to Beirut while the others are being interrogated by the ISF in Marjayoun, the sources added. 


http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Mar-20/167307-isf-detains-6-suspected-collaborators.ashx#axzz1peKK35TQ

The Daily Star - Army denies claims antique collector was abused, March 20, 2012


BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army denied Monday claims by Zakaria Hanqir, an antique collector who was detained last week for possession of weapons, that he was a victim of physical and moral abuse.
In a statement, the Army said that Hanqir was transferred to the military police who carried out an investigation under the supervision of the military prosecutor’s office.
Based on these investigations, Hanqir was released on his own recognizance because he is a doctor.
The Army statement added that “a large quantity of weapons that were confiscated were functional and some were older items and this is by itself a clear violation of the laws.”
The weapons included a MAG machine gun, two BKC machine guns, a rifle, three handguns, eight hunting rifles and 14 old rifles most of which are operational.
The judiciary is the only authority that can refute or confirm these violations, the statement added.  


http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Mar-20/167304-army-denies-claims-antique-collector-was-abused.ashx#axzz1peKK35TQ

March 19, 2012

Naharnet - Death Penalty Requests for Natout's Killer, Tanelian Brothers, March 19, 2012


Sidon’s Examining Magistrate Mounif Barakat demanded the death penalty for the Syrian who stabbed a Lebanese man in the southern port city, the National News Agency reported on Monday.
According to the agency, Barakat called in his indictment for the death penalty against Nasser Mohammed Hassan al-Fares, 22, for stabbing to death money exchange shop owner Mohammed al-Natout, 66, and stealing $5,000 from him on February 29.
Fares will be referred to the criminal court in Sidon to go on trial, after he allegedly confessed to the crime.
A taxi driver has been a key element in resolving the case, and was offered a financial reward.
Meanwhile, Military Examining Magistrate Riyad Abu Ghida called on executing George and Michel Tanelian, who are accused of killing 4 people, mostly taxi drivers.
In November, the Internal Security Forces detained five Syrian brothers in a raid on an apartment in al-Nabaa over the attacks on 11 people.
All four victims had been shot in the head with a 7.85mm pistol, including army Corporal Ziad Hani Deeb.

NOW Lebanon - Military court sentences two Syrians to death, March 19, 2012


A military court sentenced the two Syrian nationals, George and Michel Tanlian, to death, the National News Agency reported on Monday.
The two suspects, part of a gang of five brothers, were accused of killing a Lebanese army officer.
Last year, the Lebanese security forces arrested the five suspects which were identified by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel as Michel, Georges, Aziz, Moussa and Maurice Tanlian. The minister said that they were of Syrian descent, adding that Aziz, Moussa and Maurice gained Lebanese nationality.
The suspects are accused of the murder of 11 people, most of them taxi drivers.

March 18, 2012

NOW Lebanon - Merhebi says Safadi not transferring aid for Syrian refugees, March 18, 2012


Future bloc MP Mouin Merhebi said on Sunday that Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi “did not transfer the necessary funds ” for aiding the Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
Merhebi said the cabinet-approved funds were not transferred to the Higher Relief Commission, preventing the organization from fulfilling its mandate, the National News Agency reported. 
Thousands of Syrians have fled the unrest in their country, which according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has left over 9,100 people killed since protests erupted in the strife-stricken country in mid-March 2011.

March 16, 2012

The Daily Star - Refugees in northern Bekaa rely on local hospitality for survival , March 16, 2012


By Nicholas Blanford

AL-QAA, Lebanon: On a foggy late afternoon, the border with Syria in the northern Bekaa is a gloomy and ominous landscape of flat stony fields and mud tracks.
It is marked by an earth berm and a row of barbed wire. A handful of shepherds, walnut-skinned elderly men wearing thick wool coats and sporting red and white checkered kuffiyehs, watch over flocks of fat-tailed sheep. Little else stirs.
In normal times, the Lebanese customs building on the main road at Al-Qaa, 10 kilometers from the border, witnesses heavy daily traffic. The Al-Qaa border crossing connects the Bekaa to Qusayr and Homs, lying eight and 40 kilometers north of the frontier respectively. But few want to travel to Syria these days and the only vehicles on the arrow straight road from the customs building are the odd tractor driven by a local Lebanese farmer and southbound minivans with Syrian plates and roofs piled with bags and suitcases to a perilous height.
On the other side of the border lie verdant orange groves which provide cover for Syrians fleeing the violence in their homeland for the relative safety of Lebanon. Many of those newly arrived refugees are from Qusayr, which has been under shellfire and plagued by snipers for several weeks.
“People are thinking if I stay in Qusayr, I’m going to die, so I have nothing to lose by trying to reach the Lebanese border,” said Abu Abbas, who fled the besieged town with his family two weeks ago.
Wearing a brown leather jacket with a thick gray scarf wrapped around his neck, the hollow-eyed father of three small children appears still in shock from the experiences he and his family endured in Qusayr.
“There was no electricity, no water, no phones. It was too dangerous to walk to the shops to buy bread because of the snipers,” he said. “We could not sleep at night because we never knew when a shell would hit our house.”
They crossed the border safely and hitched a ride to the nearby town of Jdeideh. On reaching a mosque they encountered a local resident, Ahmad, who on learning they had arrived from Syria offered to take them into his home.
There are 7,200 Syrian refugees registered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, but the actual number of Syrians sheltering in Lebanon is judged to be much higher. One diplomatic source in Beirut, citing multiple assessments by the U.N. and NGOs, estimated the number at 20,000, double the previously reported figure.
The state-run Higher Relief Committee and various NGOs have been active mainly in the Akkar area and Wadi Khaled rather than the Bekaa Valley, where most of the recently arrived refugees are sheltering. Here they are forced to rely on the hospitality of Lebanese or move in with relatives.
Jaafar, a 30-year-old Syrian laborer, his wife and three children arrived in Lebanon two weeks ago having escaped the then besieged Homs district of Baba Amr. Now, he and his family are among 30 people living in a tiny one-floor house on the edge of Jdeideh.
Jaafar sat huddled with several other Syrians in a sparsely furnished front room that was lined with blankets and bedding donated by a local charity. But they had little else.
“We have 18 blankets but 30 people in the house. There must have been 20 people from charities and organizations coming to see us, count how many we are and taking our names. But then they never come back and we have nothing, no food, no milk for the children,” he said.
Although they have a roof over their heads, the accommodation is not free. The house was rented to them for LL200,000 a month.
“It’s not the end of the month yet but we don’t have any money. We don’t know how we are going to be able to pay the rent,” Jaafar said.
He indicated an oil-burning stove in the center of the room.
“We don’t even have any diesel to fill the stove and keep us warm at night,” he said.
As if by cue, the electricity cut out and the room plunged into darkness. After a moment fumbling in the dark, someone lit a thin candle and placed it on the stove.
“This is the only heat we will have tonight,” Jaafar joked grimly.
The refugees face an uncertain future, one that is dependent on developments in Syria. Abu Abbas said there was no chance of returning to Syria for the foreseeable future. His wife, Khadija, nodded her head.
“We have run away from death,” she said. “You think we are in a hurry to run back to death?”


http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Mar-16/166848-refugees-in-northern-bekaa-rely-on-local-hospitality-for-survival.ashx#axzz1p511kN7d

The Daily Star - Ethiopian consulate sues Lebanese man in abuse case, March 16, 2012


By Annie Slemrod

BEIRUT: The Ethiopian consulate in Lebanon has filed a lawsuit against Ali Mahfouz, the man who was caught on tape beating domestic worker Alem Dechasa outside her consulate.
Dechasa committed suicide Wednesday. Asaminew Debelie Bonssa, Ethiopia’s consul general in Lebanon, told The Daily Star Thursday that “we have already sued him [Ali Mahfouz].” He declined to give the details of the lawsuit, saying it was “a legal issue that cannot be made public,” adding that the suit was in process before the consulate was aware of Dechasa’s death but that with this development “everyone is expecting something out of this.”
In a video released by LBCI last week, Dechasa, 33, was seen moaning as a man, later identified as Mahfouz, beat and tried to force her into a car outside the Ethiopian consulate, aided by another man.
Security and judicial sources told The Daily Star that Mahfouz was briefly arrested last week, but was released after leaving his address with the magistrate. They were not able to confirm the consulate’s lawsuit.
Bonssa said that he has not received any police or medical report regarding Dechasa’s death, but said “we need the whole autopsy as [is] internationally acceptable,” adding that this was necessary especially “when somebody dies ... under the care of the hospital it is really unexpected.”
Dechasa was taken to the Psychiatrique de la Croix Hospital, known as Deir al-Salib, after the incident around three weeks ago. She died in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Bonssa said that doctors told him she hanged herself using her bed sheets.
Mahfouz told LBC that Dechasa had attempted suicide three times.


http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Mar-16/166861-ethiopian-consulate-sues-lebanese-man-in-abuse-case.ashx#axzz1p511kN7d

The Daily Star - Ethiopian consulate sues Lebanese man in abuse case, March 16, 2012



By Annie Slemrod

BEIRUT: The Ethiopian consulate in Lebanon has filed a lawsuit against Ali Mahfouz, the man who was caught on tape beating domestic worker Alem Dechasa outside her consulate.
Dechasa committed suicide Wednesday. Asaminew Debelie Bonssa, Ethiopia’s consul general in Lebanon, told The Daily Star Thursday that “we have already sued him [Ali Mahfouz].” He declined to give the details of the lawsuit, saying it was “a legal issue that cannot be made public,” adding that the suit was in process before the consulate was aware of Dechasa’s death but that with this development “everyone is expecting something out of this.”
In a video released by LBCI last week, Dechasa, 33, was seen moaning as a man, later identified as Mahfouz, beat and tried to force her into a car outside the Ethiopian consulate, aided by another man.
Security and judicial sources told The Daily Star that Mahfouz was briefly arrested last week, but was released after leaving his address with the magistrate. They were not able to confirm the consulate’s lawsuit.
Bonssa said that he has not received any police or medical report regarding Dechasa’s death, but said “we need the whole autopsy as [is] internationally acceptable,” adding that this was necessary especially “when somebody dies ... under the care of the hospital it is really unexpected.”
Dechasa was taken to the Psychiatrique de la Croix Hospital, known as Deir al-Salib, after the incident around three weeks ago. She died in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Bonssa said that doctors told him she hanged herself using her bed sheets.
Mahfouz told LBC that Dechasa had attempted suicide three times.

March 15, 2012

Naharnet - Report: Baragwanath to Arrive in Beirut on April 1, March 18, 2012


President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Judge Sir David Baragwanath will arrive in Lebanon on April 1, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Monday.
“Baragwanath has informed the Lebanese authorities about his expected visit in an official letter sent to Lebanon’s embassy” in the Netherlands, sources told the daily.
According to the sources, the STL president will ink a “memorandum of understanding” with head of the Bar Association in Beirut and Tripoli.
The daily reported that Baragwanath is seeking to allow the families of the victims of the assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri, who are included in the first indictment issued by the STL and the expected one, to appoint the attorneys that they want during the proceedings of the trial.
“Baragwanath will also hold meetings with senior Lebanese officials, academics, diplomats, and reporters,” the sources added.
They revealed that Baragwanath and the Lebanese vice president, Judge Ralph Riachi, held a meeting with a high-ranking Lebanese diplomat at the Lebanese embassy in the Netherlands in February.
The meeting was aimed at setting the agenda of the STL president’s expected visit to Lebanon in April, the daily said.
“Baragwanath described the meeting as productive and useful, in order to launch the tribunal’s campaign against Hizbullah and its allies, who are questioning its credibility,” the sources told the daily.
The tribunal, set up by the U.N. Security Council at the request of a past Lebanese government to try those responsible for the assassination of Hariri in 2005, announced in February that it will put four Hizbullah members on trial even though they have not yet been detained.
Arrest warrants have been issued for the four -- Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Oneissi and Assad Sabra -- but they remain at large.
Hizbullah has described the court as a “U.S.-Israeli” tool aimed at targeting the resistance and sowing sectarian strife in the region.



NOW Lebanon - Akkar’s Islamic Endowments delivers aid to Syrian refugees, March 15, 2012


The Islamic Endowments Department in North Lebanon’s Akkar on Thursday distributed humanitarian assistance to Syrian families that have fled to Lebanon due to the ongoing violence in Syria.
The National News Agency reported that the aid was delivered in coordination with other philanthropic groups, including Qatar Charity. 
The humanitarian assistance, which included food, was delivered at the Center of the Islamic Endowments in the northern Lebanese town of Halba in the presence of the department’s chief, Sheikh Malek Jadida.
The NNA quoted Jadida as saying that the “assistance reached around 1000 Syrian families.”
Thousands of Syrians have fled the unrest in their country, which according to the UN has left more than 8,000 dead.

The Daily Star - Ethiopia sues Lebanese man over beating of domestic worker, March 15, 2012


By Annie Slemrod

BEIRUT: The Ethiopian consulate in Lebanon has filed suit against Ali Mahfouz, the man who was caught on tape beating domestic worker Alem Dechasa outside her consulate. Dechasa, 33, committed suicide Wednesday.
Asaminew Debelie Bonssa, Ethiopia’s consul general in Lebanon, told The Daily Star Thursday that “we have already sued him [Ali Mahfouz].” He declined to give the details of the lawsuit, saying it was “a legal issue that cannot be made public,” adding that the suit was in process before the consulate was aware of Dechasa’s death but that with this development “everyone is expecting something out of this.”
In a video released by LBCI last week, Dechasa was seen moaning as a man, later identified as Mahfouz, beat and tried to force her into a car outside the Ethiopian consulate, aided by another man.
Security and judicial sources told The Daily Star that Mahfouz was briefly arrested last week, but was released after leaving his address with the magistrate. They were not able to immediately confirm the consulate’s lawsuit.
Bonssa said that he has not received any police or medical report regarding Dechasa’s death, but said “we need the whole autopsy as [is] internationally acceptable,” adding that this was necessary especially given “when somebody dies ... under the care of the hospital it is really unexpected.”
Dechasa was taken to the Psychiatrique de la Croix Hospital, known as Deir al-Salib, after the incident around three weeks ago. She died in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Bonssa said doctors told him she hanged herself using her bed sheets.
Mahfouz told LBC that Dechasa had attempted suicide three times.
The hospital declined to comment, citing privacy concerns.


http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Mar-15/166771-ethiopia-sues-lebanese-man-over-beating-of-domestic-worker.ashx#axzz1p511kN7d





NOW Lebanon - Two hundred NGOs press Russia after year of Syria violence, March 15, 2012


A coalition of 200 human rights watchdogs urged Russia to back UN action to end the bloodshed in Syria, in a joint statement issued on Thursday marking one year since the violence erupted.
"A coalition of 200 NGOs from 27 countries... is demanding that the UN Security Council immediately unite and pass a resolution calling on the Syrian government to stop indiscriminate shelling of civilian neighborhoods and other violations of international law, stop arbitrary arrests and torture and grant urgent access to humanitarian workers, journalists and human rights monitors," the statement said.
The call for the international community to "Unite for Syria: Stop one year of bloodshed" was backed by activists across the world, as well as celebrities including British actor Stephen Fry and Canadian singer Nelly Furtado.
"For a full year, the death toll in Syria has escalated to the horrifying total of more than 8,000 dead, including hundreds of children. Isn't it time for the world to unite behind effective steps to stop this now?" said Ziad Abdel Tawab of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights.
The Institute signed the statement along with the New York-based Human Rights Watch, Christian Aid, CIVICUS and the International Federation of Human Rights.
"Russia and China have twice blocked Security Council action, a defense of Assad that he has interpreted as a license to kill," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.
"Moscow and Beijing should stop providing diplomatic cover for Syrian atrocities, and start demanding an end to indiscriminate shelling and attacks on peaceful protesters," he said, quoted in the statement.
The NGOs called on the UN Security Council to demand the Syrian regime stop shelling protesters; urged the international community to back envoy Kofi Annan; demanded humanitarian access to areas in need of aid; and appealed for the "Friends of Syria" coalition to uphold its aid pledges.
"The Syrian people have survived with outstanding courage one year of systematic and widespread crimes and bloodshed as the world stood by and watched. The international community must unite and help Syrians bring an end to the horror," said Souher Belhassen, president of the International Federation for Human Rights.



NOW Lebanon - HRW urges UN to end Syria “scorched earth methods”, March 15, 2012


Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces are using "scorched earth methods" in cities across the country to crush a one-year-old revolt against his regime, Human Rights Watch charged on Thursday.
"City after city, town after town, Syria's security forces are using their scorched earth methods while the [UN] Security Council's hands remain tied by Russia and China," said HRW's Sarah Leah Whitson.
"One year on, the Security Council should finally stand together and send a clear message to Assad that these attacks should end," said the New York-based group's Middle East director.
Moscow and Beijing have since October blocked two Security Council draft resolutions on the crisis in Syria on the grounds that they were unbalanced and aimed at regime change.
HRW said in a statement that "accounts from witnesses reveal significant destruction and a large number of deaths and injuries of civilians in Syria's bombardment of the city of Edleb."
Syrian activists have compiled a list of 114 civilians killed since security forces launched an assault on the city in northwest Syria on March 10, it said.
HRW said government forces had "used large-caliber machine-guns, tanks, and mortars to fire indiscriminately at buildings and people in the street" to capture the city which had been in rebel hands for months.
Edleb fell to government forces on Tuesday night, two weeks after the regime stormed the Baba Amr district of Homs city, in central Syria, following a month-long blitz that activists said left hundreds dead.
"After they entered Edleb, government forces detained people in house-to-house searches, looted buildings, and burned down houses," HRW said, citing witnesses.
The rights group urged alleged atrocities in Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court "as the forum most capable of effectively investigating and prosecuting those bearing the greatest responsibility."


The Daily Star - Migrant worker publically beaten takes own life, March 15, 2012



By Wassim Mroueh and Annie SlemrodThe Daily Star

BEIRUT: The Ethiopian domestic worker whose beating outside her country’s consulate was caught on tape and widely publicized committed suicide Wednesday, Ethiopia’s consul general in Lebanon confirmed to The Daily Star.Alem Dechasa, 33, hanged herself using her bed sheets between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m., Ethiopian Consul General Asaminew Debelie Bonssa said doctors had told him. She was in Pyschiatrique de la Croix Hospital, known as Deir al-Salib. Police took her there after the beating some three weeks ago.
Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi vowed that investigations would continue. “For us, the matter is not over,” he told The Daily Star. “We are considering what to do now. We have to see if the [Ethiopian] consulate wants to file a lawsuit.”
He said Wednesday that an Ethiopian consular official arrived at a Beirut police station to file a lawsuit against Ali Mahfouz – the owner of Dechasa’s employment agency – and the man who was beating her on tape. When he arrived he was told that Dechasa had passed away.
A video released by LBCI last week showed Dechasa moaning as a man, later identified as Ali Mahfouz, beat her and forced her into a car.
Another man helped Mahfouz, as others stood by. According to Bonssa, the incident took place two weeks before it became public.
Last week, Bonssa explained that a man brought Dechasa into the consulate, saying she was sick. Bonssa said he advised the man to take her to the hospital for treatment. “From outside I heard voices,” he said, and he called the police.
Mahfouz told LBC that Dechasa had attempted suicide three times.
A security source told The Daily Star that Mahfouz was briefly arrested last week, but was released after leaving his address with the magistrate.
The source added that investigations are taking place under the supervision of Beirut Public Prosecutor George Karam.
Betty Barakat, from the nonprofit organization Caritas, who visited Dechasa Monday, said the Ethiopian was married with two children. She hailed from Burayu, not far from Addis Ababa, and had been in Lebanon for two months.
Bonssa said he was “deeply shocked” by the news, adding that he had seen Dechasa Saturday and she appeared fine. Bonssa also said doctors checked on her at 5 a.m. Wednesday morning and when they returned at 6 a.m. she was dead.
He added that he had been told Dechasa was on suicide watch. The hospital declined to comment, citing privacy concerns.
According to Bonssa, Dechasa arrived in Lebanon illegally, as Ethiopia banned domestic workers from traveling to Lebanon some three years ago.
In a statement from his office, Labor Minister Salim Jreissati said he had given “strict instructions” to ask Dechasa’s employment agency about the circumstances of her employment, “as well as the health problems she reportedly suffered from. What happened is a human tragedy that opens the door for cleaning the employment agency sector, and completely opening the agency issue.”

Now Lebanon - HRW urges UN to end Syria “scorched earth methods”, March 15, 2012


Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces are using "scorched earth methods" in cities across the country to crush a one-year-old revolt against his regime, Human Rights Watch charged on Thursday.
"City after city, town after town, Syria's security forces are using their scorched earth methods while the [UN] Security Council's hands remain tied by Russia and China," said HRW's Sarah Leah Whitson.
"One year on, the Security Council should finally stand together and send a clear message to Assad that these attacks should end," said the New York-based group's Middle East director.
Moscow and Beijing have since October blocked two Security Council draft resolutions on the crisis in Syria on the grounds that they were unbalanced and aimed at regime change.
HRW said in a statement that "accounts from witnesses reveal significant destruction and a large number of deaths and injuries of civilians in Syria's bombardment of the city of Edleb."
Syrian activists have compiled a list of 114 civilians killed since security forces launched an assault on the city in northwest Syria on March 10, it said.
HRW said government forces had "used large-caliber machine-guns, tanks, and mortars to fire indiscriminately at buildings and people in the street" to capture the city which had been in rebel hands for months.
Edleb fell to government forces on Tuesday night, two weeks after the regime stormed the Baba Amr district of Homs city, in central Syria, following a month-long blitz that activists said left hundreds dead.
"After they entered Edleb, government forces detained people in house-to-house searches, looted buildings, and burned down houses," HRW said, citing witnesses.
The rights group urged alleged atrocities in Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court "as the forum most capable of effectively investigating and prosecuting those bearing the greatest responsibility."

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