Amnesty calls for action over Syria

Amnesty has accused the Syrian regime of committing crimes against humanity during a deadly crackdown over a pro-democracy protest in a border town.

The London-based rights group urged the United Nations to take action over the assault by the security forces and army on Tall Kalakh in May, amid the protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule that have swept the country.

In a new report, Amnesty made allegations of torture, deaths in custody, and arbitrary detention during the security sweep that lasted several days in the town near the Lebanese border.

"The accounts we have heard from witnesses to events in Tall Kalakh paint a deeply disturbing picture of systematic, targeted abuses to crush dissent," said Philip Luther, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa deputy director.

Security forces and the army entered the town on May 14 after an anti-government protest, according to the report, which is based on interviews with more than 50 people that Amnesty talked to by phone and in Lebanon.

The rights group has not been allowed to enter Syria.

MALE RESIDENTS TORTURED

Scores of male residents were rounded up and most of those detained were tortured, with at least nine people dying in custody, according to accounts given to Amnesty.

"Amnesty International considers that crimes committed in Tall Kalakh amount to crimes against humanity," said a statement from the group.

Luther added: "Most of the crimes described in this report would fall within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. But the UN Security Council must first refer the situation in Syria to the court's prosecutor."

HAMA DEFIES SYRIA ARMY: ACTIVISTS

Security forces killed at least 11 people in Hama Tuesday while residents mobilised to keep Syria's army out, activists said as the United States urged the regime to withdraw from the flashpoint city.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, quoting medical sources, said the casualty toll had risen to 11 dead and more than 35 wounded in Hama, the hub of an anti-regime revolt which has been surrounded by the military.

"Heavy gunfire has been heard in several districts" of the city, it said.

The group said the body of one of those killed was dumped in the Orontes river of Hama, which is famous for its ancient watermills.

'CHILD SHOT DEAD'

The activists, contacted by telephone from Nicosia, said a child was among three people shot dead by security forces on Monday on the outskirts of the city, north of Damascus, that is home to 800,000 people.

"Tanks are now posted at access routes to the city except for the northern entrance," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory.

"Residents have mobilised. They're prepared to die to defend the city if need be rather than allow the army to enter," he told AFP.

"Residents have been sleeping on the streets and put up sand barriers and tyres to block any assault."

Another activist insisted that Hama, where as many as 500,000 people took to the streets for a demonstration on Friday against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, was putting up a "100 percent peaceful" resistance.

WITHDRAW FROM HAMA: US

The US State Department urged the Syrian regime to withdraw its forces from Hama and other cities.

"We urge the government of Syria to immediately halt its intimidation and arrest campaign, to pull its security forces back from Hama and other cities, and to allow Syrians to express their opinions freely so that a genuine transition to democracy can take place," spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

She added Washington was "very concerned about the ongoing attacks against peaceful demonstrators in Syria."

"The government of Syria claims that it's interested in dialogue at the same time that it is attacking and massing forces in Hama, where demonstrations have been nothing but peaceful."

In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, British Foreign Secretary William Hague emphasised "the importance of the Syrian government taking rapid and concrete action to stop the violence and change the situation."

Hague, who held talks with his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faisal on hotspots in the Arab world, said "I made clear my view that President Assad's proposals for reform need to be implemented quickly and fully if they are to be of any significance."

In the capital, about 70 serving and former MPs held a meeting Tuesday to discuss the crisis, in the third such gathering in a week.

ACTIVISTS CALL FOR STRIKES

Meanwhile, pro-democracy activists on their Facebook site, Syrian Revolution 2011, called for a nationwide general strikes on Thursday.

Assad, faced with a revolt since mid-March, sacked the governor of Hama province on Saturday, a day after the massive rally during which security forces kept out of sight.

Since security forces gunned down 48 protesters in the city on June 3, Hama has escaped the clutches of the regime, activists say. The next day, more than 100,000 mourners were reported to have taken part in their funerals.

Hama was the scene of a 1982 blood bath in which an estimated 20,000 people were killed when the army crushed an Islamist revolt against the rule of the president's predecessor and late father, Hafez al-Assad.

Rights groups say that more than 1,300 civilians have been killed and 10,000 people arrested by security forces since mid-March.