Amnesty International and other human rights organizations claim that between April and August the number of people killed in the Syrian government’s brutal crackdown of Syrian protestors is officially numbered at 2,200 people. They have also stated that cases of horrific torture is up and there have been over 10,000 arrests.
A top-ranking Syrian official Adnan Bakkour, the attorney general from Hama, a member of the inner circle of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, has resigned over the atrocities committed by Assad’s security forces. Bakkour said he could no longer remain silent over what he has seen including mass killings and cover-ups by the Syrian government. His defection is seen as a major crack in Assad’s brutal dictatorship. Adnan Bakkour is naming the names of those guilty of committing crimes against humanity, human rights violations and atrocities, locations and dates as seen in the video below. Some of those guilty of the atrocities in Syria include the Interior Minister, the Chairman of Military security in Hama, the Lieutenant Colonel of air intelligence, the Deputy Police Chief in Hama, Shady Hinidi, supervisor of torture in the Central prison, and also Suliman Juma’ah, another Supervisor of Torture at Central Prison as well as many others.
The Syrian government responded on the Syrian state news agency SANA that Bakkour had been kidnapped by armed gangs. However, a second video of Bakkour arrived on the internet stating the date and denying that he had been kidnapped by “armed gangs.”
Bakkour’s calmly read statement accused the Syrian regime of murdering 72 prisoners at the main prison in Hama on July 31, 2011 and accused the security forces of torturing and killing over 300 demonstrators. He also stated that he was forced to prepare a cover-up report stating 420 people murdered by the security forces in Al Khalidya were murdered by Syrian protesters and then buried in a mass grave .
President Assad’s official government line is that the uprising in Syria is composed of 64,400 members of “armed gangs.” This is extremely difficult to believe there could be 64,400 members in an armed gang. However the release of personal videos on the internet demonstrate that it is not armed gangs but rather the unarmed people of Syria protesting their government’s policies and demanding change. Unarmed protestors have been brutally shot down by Assad’s security forces. Images of the bodies of victims tortured and murdered by members of Assad’s regime have been published on the internet and on major television stations. It is now difficult for Assad and his dictatorship to deny the reality of the atrocities committed by his security forces who have gunned down unarmed protesters and tortured and killed detainees.
President Assad and his security forces are clearly guilty of massive human rights abuses and atrocities against the Syrian people. The Arab League and the entire world, except for Russia, has voiced objection over Assad’s brutal crackdown and urged him to step down because he has lost all legitimacy to rule. Russia has vetoed a Security Council resolution to impose an arms embargo and asset freeze on Syria. Harsh sanctions targeting Syrian oil and gas exports have been imposed by nations of the European Union and the United States.
Syrian activists on their Syrian Revolution 2011 page posted the message “death rather than humiliation”, and: “We are ready to die in the millions as martyrs.”