Syrian authorities on Tuesday denied the existence of a mass grave in the southern town of Dara’a, which the army had raided to put down anti-regime protests, while acknowledging that the bodies of five people had been found in the town.
“This information is totally false,” an interior ministry official told the state news agency, referring to reports about the mass grave.
“These reports are part of a campaign of incitement and lies against Syria,” the official added.
The Sana agency, quoting a local official in Dara’a, said five bodies had been discovered in the town on Sunday and that the local Attorney General had launched a probe.
It did not specify how the bodies were found or how the victims died.
A rights activist told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Monday that a mass grave had been discovered in the old town of Dara’a, at the heart of protests roiling the country for two months and virtually shut off from the outside world.
Foul smell
Ammar Qurabi, of the National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria, said the grim find was made after authorities allowed people to venture outside their homes during daylight.
Rami Abdel Rahman, of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP that the mass grave concerned the five corpses found on Sunday.
He identified the victims as Abdel Razzaq Abu Zeid and his four sons, aged between 20 and 40.
“Abu Zeid and his sons went missing from Dara’a on April 25, as they were fleeing the army assault on the town for fear of arrest,” Rahman said by telephone.
“Family members were informed last Sunday by local residents of a foul smell emanating from a hilltop about 150m from his home,” he added. “They discovered the bodies and alerted authorities.”
Rahman called on authorities to set up a commission, including well-respected members of the town, to investigate the deaths.
Syria has been roiled by unprecedented protests for two months that have threatened the authoritarian regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
More than 850 people, including women and children, have been killed in the unrest and at least 8 000 arrested, according to rights groups.
The authoritarian regime has blamed the violence on “armed terrorist gangs” backed by Islamists and foreign agitators. — AFP