Monday, May 21, 2012

UN official urges authorities in Homs to free political prisoners and allow peaceful protest - @AJELive

Tue, 22 May 2012, 03:37 GMT+3 - Syria

A senior UN official urged authorities in the central Syrian city of Homs Monday to release political prisoners and allow peaceful demonstrations.

Homs has been hard hit in violent clashes between anti-government protests and pro-government security forces. Last week, at least 15 civilians were "summarily executed" there by regime forces, according to the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights.

Speaking after a meeting with Homs Governor Ghassan Abdelaal, Herve Ladsous, the UN's undersecretary general for peacekeeping operations called for public services to facilitate everyday life.

"Authorising peaceful demonstrations and releasing detainees would go some way towards consolidating confidence, which so far has been lacking, so that the political process can get started and can gain traction," he said.