Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR from herein) is a UK-based group opposed to the rule of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
The organisation claims to use contacts in Syria[citation needed] to gather information on events in the 2011 Syrian Uprising, including the deaths of protesters and army defectors (which it calls "martyrs")[1] and loyalist soldiers,[2] although SOHR has indicated that they consider reporting on the deaths of government loyalists to be "not in their interest".[3]
SOHR is run out of a two-bedroom terraced home in Coventry by one man using the name Rami Abdulrahman (or Rami Abdul Rahman, or Rami Abdelrahman). He also runs a clothes shop. [4]
[edit] Rival claims to the name SOHR
The website Syriahr.org now claims that Rami Abdulrahman is in fact called Osama Ali Suleiman and he merely used the name Rami Abdulrahman, a pen-name that the website claims to have been initially used by all "SOHR members".[5] Syriahr.org claims that Abdulrahman was able to wrest control of the SOHR website Syriahr.net in August 2011 by changing all the passwords and that he proceeded to make himself the chairman of the SOHR, upon which an organisation claiming to be the 'real' SOHR created the rival website Syriahr.org.[5] This new website Syriahr.org then proceeded to launch a smear campaign against Abdulrahman, claiming he only had a "very modest level of education", condemning his "lack of professionalism" and even alleging that he is a member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party.[5][3][6]
Abdulrahman, meanwhile, says the new site Syriahr.org is run by Mousab Azzawi, who used to translate for the SOHR but was fired after falsely claiming to be an official spokesman for the organisation and calling for foreign intervention in Syria.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ "26 civilians killed in Syria on Friday: Observatory". Focus Information Agency. 17 February 2012. http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n271216. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
- ^ "The Syrian observatory for human rights Live Blog". Al-Jazeera. http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/The-Syrian-observatory-for-human-rights.
- ^ a b c "Deaths in Syria: Counting them (politically) correctly". Russia Today. 9 February 2012. http://rt.com/news/syria-death-count-political-875/. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
- ^ "Coventry - an unlikely home to prominent Syria activist". Reuters. 8 December 2011. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/12/08/uk-britain-syria-idUKTRE7B71XG20111208.
- ^ a b c "Important Letter from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights about Rami Abdul Rahman". http://syriahr.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=638&Itemid=7.
- ^ "The Syrian Observatory: The Inside Story". Al Akhbar. 26 January 2012. http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syrian-observatory-inside-story. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
[edit] External links
- Syrian Observatory for Human Rights - original website
- Syrian Observatory for Human Rights - website created in August 2011 after the alleged expulsion of Suleiman
- [1] - SKS report for Human Rights Day
