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Syria's President Bashar al-Assad 'should be tried' | Syria's President Bashar al-Assad 'should be tried' |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should face trial at a UN court over the "brutal" treatment of his people, Australia's foreign minister says. | Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should face trial at a UN court over the "brutal" treatment of his people, Australia's foreign minister says. |
Kevin Rudd said incidents such as the alleged torture and murder of a 13-year-old boy by security forces had robbed Mr Assad of any legitimacy. | Kevin Rudd said incidents such as the alleged torture and murder of a 13-year-old boy by security forces had robbed Mr Assad of any legitimacy. |
President Assad invited the boy's family to meet him and promised an inquiry, state television said. | |
Activists say more than 1,000 people have died in weeks of protests. | |
The 13-year-old boy, Hamza al-Khatib, has become an icon of the anti-government uprising in Syria, says the BBC's Jim Muir. | |
Activists say he was detained by security forces and tortured to death, while the authorities insist he was shot dead during a demonstration. | Activists say he was detained by security forces and tortured to death, while the authorities insist he was shot dead during a demonstration. |
Mr Rudd called it a "brutal act" and accused Mr Assad of taking "large-scale directed action" against his own people. | Mr Rudd called it a "brutal act" and accused Mr Assad of taking "large-scale directed action" against his own people. |
"I believe it is high time that the Security Council now consider a formal referral of President Assad to the International Criminal Court," said Mr Rudd. | "I believe it is high time that the Security Council now consider a formal referral of President Assad to the International Criminal Court," said Mr Rudd. |
Martyr to both sides | Martyr to both sides |
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the boy's death showed the regime was deaf to the voice of its people. | US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the boy's death showed the regime was deaf to the voice of its people. |
"I can only hope that this child did not die in vain but that the Syrian government will end the brutality and begin a transition to real democracy," she said. | "I can only hope that this child did not die in vain but that the Syrian government will end the brutality and begin a transition to real democracy," she said. |
Hamza Khatib is being hailed as a martyr, and his picture is now held aloft at demonstrations around the country and abroad. | Hamza Khatib is being hailed as a martyr, and his picture is now held aloft at demonstrations around the country and abroad. |
He is being compared to the Tunisian market-seller Mohamed Bouazizi and Iranian pro-democracy protester Neda Agha Soltan whose deaths galvanised anti-government campaigns. | |
Hamza is also being called a martyr by the Syrian authorities. | |
State TV said the teenager's father and family were invited to meet President Assad, and they were quoted as saying he "engulfed us with his kindness and graciousness". | |
A man who identified himself as Hamza's father said: "The president considered Hamza his own son and was deeply affected." | |
'Mutilated body' | |
The boy went missing after a demonstration at an army barracks near Deraa in the south at the end of April. | The boy went missing after a demonstration at an army barracks near Deraa in the south at the end of April. |
Activists say he was captured and tortured to death, and that his mutilated body was handed back to his family four weeks later. | Activists say he was captured and tortured to death, and that his mutilated body was handed back to his family four weeks later. |
The government says he received three fatal gunshot wounds during the protest and died on the spot, but there was a delay in handing over his body because he was not identified. | The government says he received three fatal gunshot wounds during the protest and died on the spot, but there was a delay in handing over his body because he was not identified. |
Syrian state TV aired a programme about the teenager on Tuesday night in which a judge said death was due to "a number of bullet wounds without any indication of torture or beating on the body". | |
Coroner Akram al-Shaar blamed the state of the body on decomposition, adding: "There are no marks on the surface of the body that show violence, resistance or torture." |