Kristyan Benedict
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Letters to the editor The Times Friday 30 August 2013 Sir, The defeat of the UK government’s initiative to win political support for possible military intervention in Syria shouldn’t blind us to some basic facts. First, that US-led...
In recent days, several governments, including the UK, USA and France have signalled their intention to take military action against the Syrian government, which they hold responsible for the alleged chemical weapons attacks of 21...
Indiscriminate attacks and reckless use of weapons, use of children, torture and ill-treatment of captives, sectarian threats and attacks, abductions and hostage taking, killings of civilians, including journalists and members of...
Non violent resistance in Syria? Don’t make me laugh. Those trying to topple Assad are all cannibals and head choppers….or so the likes of the academic “Angry Arab”, Asad Abu Khalil would, it would seem at times, try to convince you...
On June 18 at Amnesty International UK, the Bassel Shehadeh Foundation was officially announced at a special screening of the documentary Syria through a Lens - The life and works of the film maker Bassel Shehadeh. Syria is probably...
Amnesty International UK recently hosted 16 leading activists from the Syrian Non Violence Movement (SNVM). They came for an intensive 2 day training session in our Human Rights Action Centre . The all day sessions were on “campaign...
Mus’ab al-Hamadi, aged 32, is a well-known media activist and member of the Local Coordination Committee (LCC) in Hama. He has been heavily involved in collating information and posting videos of abuses committed by Syrian government...
The following is taken from our new briefing released 14 March 2013 Syria: Summary killings and other abuses by armed opposition groups. (PDF) In light of the abuses documented in this briefing, Amnesty International urges any state...
Syria: Two years on. Will there be a Human Rights Revolution? This new film from Amnesty International UK marks the second anniversary of the Syrian uprising / conflict and is released alongside two new briefings from Amnesty...
The situation in Syria has many participants with many contradictory political agendas; however one agenda worth getting common agreement on is the need for immediate protection of Syria’s civilians. Ideally this would be by all...
This is a guest post from Ellie Clayton and Gordon Bennett, who've both worked for our Supporter Care team, currently under house arrest in Tel Aviv We’re writing this from a flat in a Tel Aviv high-rise apartment block. We’ve been...
When reading statements by important political figures concerning the human rights & humanitarian crisis in Syria I often try, as much as is reasonably possible, to put myself in the position of those living in fear, those exiled...
It is true that one can say they want a new Syria where all people's human rights are respected AND cheer the brutal extrajudicial execution of members of the notorious Berri clan in Aleppo. This is possible but let’s be clear; it...
On Saturday 30 June, the “Action group on Syria” met in Geneva to try to address the growing crisis in Syria – they did indeed “address the crisis” but what progress did they actually make and how is that reflected on the ground where...
Apologists for the Syrian government’s crimes against humanity are experiencing a rare moment of vindication at the moment. Or so they are leading themselves to believe. The reason? Well articles about alleged Saudi/Qatari arming of...
It’s the day after the launch of our new report on Syria and as with most of our high profile reports, I have spent a significant part of today discussing our approach to researching alleged human rights violations. Inevitably we have...
I figure before I do any “proper” blog posts I should say a little about the campaign I manage here - Crisis & Transition in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA). It’s fair to say it is an ambitious, labyrinthine and long term...