Syria accused of reneging on Arab League pledge to release 700 prisoners
The government had promised to release more than 700 detainees from jails last week as part of a peace plan drawn up by the Arab League.
Under the plan monitors have also been allowed to observe confrontations on Syria’s streets between protesters and security forces. More than 5,000 people have died since massive demonstrations against the regime started in March, including large numbers of protesters killed by security forces.
Thousands are also believed to have been detained, and the names of several hundred of them were given to the government with a request to let them out.
But despite agreeing, only 13 have been released, according to Avaaz, an organisation which monitors Syria through a network of campaigners operating outside the clutches of the notorious secret police.
“Our information is that only 13 named prisoners have been released,” said spokesman Will Davies.
“Making this promise to release more than 700 is another case of regime stalling tactics as the regime plays for time and tries to placate the Arab League.”
If the Arab League decides that the Syrian government is not sticking to its agreement, greater international pressure on the regime is likely to follow.
At least six people were killed in attacks on protests on Saturday, including one in Damascus, according to the Local Coordination Committees, an activist group. A day earlier, regime forces A day earlier, at least 27 were killed.
An amateur video released late on Friday showed one Arab League observer telling protesters in the southern city of Daraa, where the uprising began, that he saw snipers with “our own eyes and we call upon (Syrian) authorities to withdraw them.”