Iran helping Syria to suppress protests
Last Updated on Thursday, 14 April 2011 19:15 Thursday, 14 April 2011 19:09
Iran is helping Syria to suppress demonstrations in support of democracy by providing equipment to control crowds. Simultaneously, it is helping Shiite groups to ferment unrest in Yemen and Bahrain, two U.S. allies. Resources and expertise in monitoring online communications among protesters in Syria was also being provided.
The claims were made by the Wall Street Journal citing unnamed US officials who spoke of intercepted communications among Iranian officials. Iran successfully, and brutally, suppressed protests for democracy amongst its own population in 2009 and 2010. Syria is a close ally of Iran and the Wall Street Journal quoted an American official as saying, "We believe that Iran is materially assisting the Syrian government in its efforts to suppress their own people."
The regime of Bashar al-Assad a has tried to placate protesters with limited reforms such as a free press and allowing other political parties to operate in the country. It has also passed laws that pander to fundamentialist muslims including stricter rules on the burka. But as the protests continued, security forces began firing indiscriminately on demonstrations, often killing as many as 30 protesters in a single day. Amnesty International says 171 people have been killed by security forces so far and reports of mass detentions and torture have been filed.
