SWITZERLAND: ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger confirms that Syria opened its prisons for the first time to Red Cross officials

Record ID: 279234

  • Title: SWITZERLAND: ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger confirms that Syria opened its prisons for the first time to Red Cross officials
  • Date: 6th September 2011
  • Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (SEPTEMBER 5, 2011) (REUTERS) HEADQUARTERS OF INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS ICRC SPOKESMAN, HICHAM HASSAN, WALKING OUT OF BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (English) ICRC SPOKESMAN, HICHAM HASSAN, SAYING: "(ICRC) President (Jakob) Kellenberger met this morning with President (Bashar al-)Assad and discussed the cooperation between the ICRC and the Syri
  • Embargoed: 21st September 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Switzerland, Switzerland
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAD10AWGTTCSNB8BEZXM3CW6AVT
  • Story Text: Syria has opened its prisons for the first time to the Red Cross whose officials visited detainees in the central prison in Damascus, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday (September 5).
    The ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger said in a statement at the end of a two-day visit to Damascus, that the Syrian authorities had granted the ICRC access to a place of detention for the first time.
    An ICRC spokesman said visiting to the Damascus central prison, at Adra, had started on Sunday (September 4).
    He also said that Kellenberger met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday to press for access to healthcare for protesters wounded during demonstrations against Assad's rule.
    "(ICRC) President (Jakob) Kellenberger met this morning with President (Bashar al-)Assad and discussed the cooperation between the ICRC and the Syrian government on humanitarian issues. Discussions also tackled the necessity that the ICRC sees for (access for) wounded to healthcare services and also the discussions held concerned the access (for) the ICRC to places of detention. The ICRC started visiting the Adra place of detention or the Damascus central prison, yesterday, Sunday fourth of September. The objectives of ICRC's visits are to assert and make sure of the conditions under which persons are held or detained and the ICRC continues to work currently with the Syrian Red Crescent in order to answer some of the needs that exist today in these areas affected by the violence," spokesman Hicham Hassan said, outside the ICRC's headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
    Since Kellenberger's last visit to Syria in June, the ICRC has been able to bring vital supplies to many places affected by the violence, Hassan said.
    "The ICRC is working very closely with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in order to visit areas affected by the violence. So far, we have managed to visit Homs, Hama, Idlib, Latakia, Jisr al-Shughour and many other areas, in order to distribute food and other medical, healthcare material. But, so far, the ICRC needs to have more access in order to assess as many people as possible," he added.
    Thousands of activists and other civilians have been arrested in more than five months of pro-democracy protests in Syria, where the United Nations says more than 2,200 people have been killed.
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