SETF Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 10th, 2012
Contact: SyrianETF@gmail.com
The Syrian Emergency Task Force Condemns In The Strongest Terms Today’s Public Address By Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
WASHINGTON - Today’s public address clearly shows that President Assad has no intention of honoring his commitment to work with the Arab League to find a peaceful solution to the current humanitarian crisis that has left over six thousand innocent Syrian civilians of all faiths and backgrounds dead, and many more injured. Assad’s characterization of the peaceful opposition as a “foreign conspiracy” and “terrorist plot” shows a complete detachment from reality and complete willingness to mislead the international community even as his security forces continue to kill, rape and torture innocent civilians, acts which due to their widespread and systematic nature constitute crimes against humanity falling within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. Even as Assad gave his speech, at least 35 Syrian civilians were killed today by Security Forces.
The SETF concurs with the Syrian National Council’s assessment that the language used in today’s speech is an “incitement to violence, incitement to civil strife… which the regime itself has fomented and encouraged.”
The SETF endorses the public statements made by the Governments of the United States of America and France noting that Assad has now lost all credibility and must step down to allow a democratic and constitutional end to this humanitarian crisis.
The SETF, through its legal team, will continue to encourage the institutions of the United Nations, in particular the United Nations Security Council, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Human Rights Council, to adopt a more rigorous approach to monitoring strict adherence to a peace plan. Through these activities the SETF seeks greater engagement from the United Nations, Arab League and European Union in solving this current conflict and bringing to justice those responsible for all crimes committed against the Syrian people, irrespective of all faiths, and allow for an orderly transition to a new Syrian democratic government as demanded by the Syrian people.
Media inquiries are welcome.
For any further information, please contact our Executive Office, at (202) 420-‐7881 or at SyrianETF@gmail.com.
Updated news and information can also be found at http://www.syrianemergencytaskforce.org/