Talk:Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

Internal split
The organization somehow split in two a year ago, with vile attacks on Rami Abdulrahman from the opposition. Both groups called themselves "Syrian Observatory for Human Rights". -- Petri Krohn (talk) 21:33, 10 December 2012 (UTC)


 * Yeah, that's explained in length in the first linked article. IIRC you posted it over at the Libya site several months ago and I reposted it at the forum where I looked it up today. Stub is better than nothing for the moment. --CE (talk) 23:41, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

It seems to me (links later) that both SOHRs were based in the UK, and the one keeping the name is the more prominent by far, making news just by announcing things like that March, 2013 was the deadliest month of the conflict, with over 6,000 dead by their calculations, or that a rebel unit is kidnapping and torturing young men is Aleppo (see below). They also seem to have the bigger and more varied network of informants and is also the more reliable of the two (that's saying something, but not necessarily very much). The other group apparently became the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), who get cited much less frequently. --Caustic Logic (talk) 08:44, 11 April 2013 (UTC)

Aleppo Torture Battalion
SOHR made news again on April 9/10 by reporting a rebel unit in north Aleppo had been systematically kidnapping young men and torturing them while waiting for ransom payments. --Caustic Logic (talk) 08:44, 11 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Reuters via Daily Star: Syrian opposition group accuses rebel unit of torture
 * The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Tuesday accused a rebel battalion of torturing civilians and extorting money from them in Syria's northern city of Aleppo.
 * [...]
 * (SOHR) felt compelled to single out the Badr Martyrs' Battalion, a unit of the Free Men of Syria Brigade (Ahrar Suriya), after collecting a large number of witness accounts pointing to frequent detentions and torture.
 * Could be Ahrar Al-Shaam is meant. The brigade and the battalion are not named in SOHR's Facebook posts. The whole incident is not on the website yet. --Caustic Logic (talk) 08:44, 11 April 2013 (UTC)
 * "These types of incidents are increasingly common on both sides, unfortunately. Many of these people are civilians, not fighters. Incidents like this degrade the revolution that people started," Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Observatory, said in a telephone interview.
 * Abdelrahman emailed pictures of a man who he said had been tortured by the group. The man's legs had the skin torn open in several places. His back was covered in open lash marks. The man told the Observatory he had sustained the injuries while being detained for three days.
 * Other residents told the group that the same unit of Ahrar Suriya, which operates near Aleppo's government-held district of Ashrafiyeh, had forced refugees as well as local residents to pay protection money.

SOHR Facebook posts:
 * April 9 post, 5 photos
 * Images of the body of a released torture victim after several days in a rebel detention centre on the edges of the al-Ashrafiya neighbourhood. The rebel battalion is headed by Khaled Hayyani.


 * Rebel battalion detaining and torturing civilians in Aleppo
 * The SOHR interviewed several civilians who have recently been released after several days in a rebel detention centre on the edges of the al-Ashrafiya neighbourhood. The operation is headed by a rebel battalion who's leader is called Khaled Hayyani. The interviewees were badly tortured and beaten by the rebel battalion. One of the torture victims, who was released yesterday, stated that the rebels have tens of Arab and Kurd civilian captives, mostly men aged between 18 and 20, and that people are being tortured there around the clock. Attached are some images of the body of a released torture victim.
 * This battalion is also responsible for the abuse, theft and forcible take over of property of many refugees who have been fleeing the neighbouring Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood, which has been a scene of intense violencve recently.Many former residents from Sheikh Maqsoud have complained that the battalion is racketeering and forcing them to pay protection money, which some claimed is no different to the practices formerly conducted by the pro-regime gunmen.
 * The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights condemns such war crimes and demands that the rebel battalion headed by Khaled Hayyani ceases immediately. We demand the immediate release of all detainees, that all confiscated and stolen property be returned immediately, and that those responsible be brought to justice. Such actions are a reproduction of the brutalities committed by the Syrian authorities, and they were the main reason many Syrians took to the streets to demand their rights to freedom, justice and dignity. Rebel battalions are responsible for all injustices that take place in the areas which they control, if they are in power in an area they must ensure and respect the essential rights of the civilian population.
 * On the bolded part, the age of those kidnapped: this is the same core age group of the men found executed after kidnap in the rebel-held stretch of the Quweiq River (see Queiq River Massacre). Why abduct fighting age men? Because they're hard workers/bread earners and so are badly needed back? Could be. Or is the ransom and/or death a replacement for a third option they're given: fighting with the rebels? The released guy, as passed on by the SOHR, doesn't mention that. But rebels have to recruit somehow to replenish their ranks. --Caustic Logic (talk) 08:44, 11 April 2013 (UTC)