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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

UK Urges Assad to Step Down

2011-10-14

[An Nahar] Britannia's Foreign Office has again summoned the Syrian ambassador to London over the alleged intimidation of exiled activists, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Thursday, urging Syrian President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Latakia... to step down. It is the third time this year that Syrian ambassador Sami Khiyami has been summoned by the British government amid unrest in the Arab nation, while it also rescinded his invitation to Prince William's wedding in April. "The Syrian ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Office this morning and told that any harassment or intimidation of Syrians in our country is unacceptable and will not be tolerated," Hague told parliament. He urged al-Assad to "step aside now and allow others to take forward reform", adding that in contrast to Libya "appalling violence and repression continues in Syria." Hague said the warning came a day after junior Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt had met members of the opposition Syrian National Council in Gay Paree, while Hague himself met Syrian activists in London at the end of September. The Foreign Office first summoned Khiyami in May to protest at the crackdown against protesters by Assad's regime. In June he was summoned again about media reports that a diplomat at the embassy had been intimidating Syrians in Britannia, and that members of their families in Syria had been threatened. In April Britannia abruptly withdrew Khiyami's invitation to the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, following pressure from rights groups and the media. Speaking after the Syrian ambassador attended the Foreign Office on Thursday, Burt said he was "deeply concerned by continued reports suggesting harassment and intimidation by Syrian diplomats in the UK. "In summoning the Syrian ambassador today the UK made very clear that any such behavior will not be tolerated and must immediately stop. "We will take appropriate action on evidence that such action is happening and continue to encourage anyone who has experienced harassment or intimidation to report this to the police. "They continue to investigate allegations and we are working with them closely".

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Britain

Britain Summons Syria Envoy over Dissidents Intimidation Claims

2011-06-29

[An Nahar] Britannia on Tuesday summoned the Syrian ambassador to express concerns about reports that a diplomat at the embassy had been intimidating Syrians in Britannia, the foreign ministry said. "Syrian Ambassador Dr. Sami Khiyami was invited in to see the (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) Middle East Director Christian Turner," said a foreign ministry statement. "Mr. Turner made clear our strong concerns about the media allegations that a diplomat at the Syrian Embassy has been intimidating Syrians in Britannia." Such intimidation would amount to "a clear breach of acceptable behavior," said the statement. "If such claims were substantiated, the Foreign Office would respond swiftly and appropriately." Britannia's Guardian newspaper reported last Wednesday that Syrians involved in anti-government protests in Britannia had been intimidated by agents of President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... 's regime. Protesters had received phone calls and visits to their homes and members of their families in Syria had been threatened, the paper said. A British government source said police have not received any complaints about intimidation by members of the Syrian embassy. Syria has been in the grip of deadly unrest pitting pro-democracy protesters against security forces since mid-March. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 1,342 civilians have been killed in the government's crackdown on protesters and that 342 security force personnel have also died. It is the second time recently that Khiyami has been called in by British authorities. He was summoned on May 13 to warn of fresh sanctions against the regime if it failed to stop the crackdown on protesters. In April Britannia withdrew his invitation to the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria loses royal wedding invite due to crackdown

2011-04-29

Britain has withdrawn the royal wedding invitation to Syria, with the support of Buckingham Palace, after a violent crackdown against pro-democracy supporters, a Foreign Office spokesman said on Thursday. Boy howdy, that sends a message... Mrs. Assad was the subject of an adoring, photo-filled article in Vogue only a few months ago -- she is beautiful, expensively but sleekly fashionable, and of course "beloved of her husband's people". She looks nothing like the stereotypical nouveau riche Arab princess...but her actions are very typical, unfortunately. The invitation was rescinded on the eve of Friday's wedding between Prince William, the second-in-line to the British throne, and his long-term girlfriend Kate Middleton, following criticism from opposition politicians and human rights groups. "You may not want to see the pictures of repression in Syria at the same time as the picture of the Syrian ambassador happily being greeted at the wedding," Human Rights Watch senior legal adviser Clive Baldwin told Reuters. He said Britain should make clear it opposed human rights abuses to avoid being seen as condoning repressive regimes, especially as the eyes of the world would be on the country at this time. Human rights groups are unhappy that invitations have been sent to best customer Saudi Arabia, while on Sunday, Bahrain's crown prince said he would not attend because of unrest in the Gulf Arab kingdom. The Foreign Office said those countries with which Britain has normal diplomatic relations had been invited, and that "while we have strong disagreements with many of them this remains the case." Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who held a demonstration outside Buckingham Palace on Thursday, said it was "time Buckingham Palace stopped playing diplomatic niceties". "We can have diplomatic relations with these countries but there is no obligation to reward their regimes with seats of honor in Westminster Abbey," he told Reuters. Opposition Labor politicians complained that representatives for Syria and other countries criticized for their human rights records had been invited, but former Labor prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were not. Britain summoned the Syrian ambassador Sami Khiyami to the Foreign Office on Wednesday to condemn the "unacceptable use of force" against protesters. A day later, under intense media pressure, it rescinded the wedding invitation saying the Foreign Office and Buckingham Palace shared the view that it was "not considered appropriate" for the ambassador to attend. Khiyami later told BBC radio: "I find it a bit embarrassing but I do not consider it as a matter that would jeopardize any ongoing relations and discussions with the British government."

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Britain

Malloch-Brown ready to be Syria's tool

2007-11-16

Lord Malloch-Brown, the controversial Foreign Office minister, was in a fresh row last night after telling senior members of the Syrian regime of his willingness to speak for them on the world stage. The remarks were reportedly made last week at a reception hosted by Sami Khiyami, the Syrian ambassador. One witness said the minister told the Syrians: "Think of me as your man in the Cabinet." Lord Malloch-Brown denies making the comment. The reception was held to mark the visit of Abdullah Dardari, Syria's deputy prime minister. He and Lord Malloch-Brown are said to be close friends from when they worked at the United Nations in New York. The Arabic newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi, whose correspondent attended the reception, said Lord Malloch-Brown gave an "emotional" speech, recalling how he had considered himself to be "representing Syria inside the UN". The minister also spoke warmly about Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president. The speech may fuel doubts about Gordon Brown's wisdom in appointing Lord Malloch-Brown. The White House accuses Syria of supporting Iraqi insurgents and Lebanon's Hizbollah movement. Lord Malloch-Brown was appointed by the Prime Minister as part of his "government of all the talents" and has permission to attend Cabinet meetings. One guest at the reception told The Daily Telegraph: "People were startled by how effusive he was, especially when he said, 'Think of me as your man in the Cabinet'." A Syrian embassy official said: "It was a courtesy, a kind thing to say. He was saying he would do his best to narrow the gaps between the two countries." Bernard Jenkin, a Conservative member of the Commons defence committee, said: "This is another clumsy outburst, which reinforces the impression that the Foreign Office exists to represent foreigners instead of British national interests."

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria tells Hizbollah to stop rocketing Israel

2006-07-15

LONDON - Syria is telling Lebanon’s Hizbollah movement to stop firing rockets at Israel in a conflict sparked by the capture of two Israeli soldiers, Syria’s ambassador to London said on Friday. Uh-huh, sure. Perhaps Pencilneck is getting worried? When asked whether Syria was telling Hizbollah to stop firing rockets at Israel, the ambassador, Sami Khiyami, told the BBC: “Of course.” “This is a movement that is completely independent. We have good relations with it,” he said. Hizbollah was created to fight Israel’s former occupation of southern Lebanon and is backed by both Iran and Syria. “Syria does not wish at all to be involved in the conflict. It’s really seeking to ease down tensions and to reach a settlement that would stop completely the violence.” "Because we know we'd get our butts kicked if the Jooozs come north," he admitted. “The most important thing today is to concentrate on stopping the violence, on negotiating exchange of prisoners and on devising ways and means to bring peace to this poor Middle East,” Khiyami said.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria allows private questioning by UN

2005-11-06

Syria will let UN investigators, trying to identify the killers of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri, question its officials in Damascus on their own, the Syrian ambassador to London has said. Chief United Nations investigator Detlev Mehlis has complained that Syrian security figures interviewed in Damascus last month appeared to give only prepared responses. The Syrians had insisted that other officials attend the interviews. "There shouldn't be a problem to meet with them as witnesses any time," the ambassador, Sami Khiyami, told Reuters on Friday. "Mehlis can meet them completely alone, even choose a place in Damascus with a UN flag," he said, adding that the investigators would be free to produce their witnesses at the interviews, while keeping their identities secret if necessary. "But they ain't goin' to Beirut," he added. "Fuggeddaboudit."

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Assad's aides said to agree to Mehlis interrogation

2005-11-02

Syrian President Bashar Assad's brother and brother-in-law have agreed to be interrogated by the UN probe team into former Premier Rafik Hariri's murder "if requested," according to a Syrian diplomat. The Syrian Ambassador to Britain Sami Khiyami told BBC's Today radio program the inquiry had not previously sought to interview either Assad's brother and head of the Presidential Guards Maher Assad, or the president's brother-in-law and Chief of Syria's military intelligence Assef Shawkat. Both men were named as suspects by an undisclosed witness in the original draft of the report prepared by UN Chief Investigator Detlev Mehlis on the course of the investigations. Mehlis, who came back to Beirut late Monday night, said then that "the Syrian witnesses' answers were all standard," and lashed out at Syria for the lack of cooperation it showed. "In our eyes there was full cooperation. However, if the commission had said at that time that it had suspects we would have acted differently," Khiyami said. He added: "It is clear for any person who has followed this issue throughout that Syria's co-operation was complete. I repeat: complete." Meaning that's all you're gonna get... Mehlis is expected to re-interrogate the Syrian officials he met in Damascus two months ago. According to judicial sources and in a new development, Mehlis is expected to interrogate the Syrian officials in Lebanon rather than Cyprus as previously reported.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Khiyami says all troops will leave Lebanon before election

2005-03-21

Syria looks set to pull all of its troops out of Lebanon ahead of upcoming elections, the Syrian ambassador to Britain said in an interview broadcast on Sunday. "I don't have clear information... However I tend to believe that we will be out before the elections," Sami Khiyami told Britain's ITV Television. Asked whether he meant that all Syria's troops and intelligence elements would leave the country, the ambassador replied: "All troops ... All intelligence operatives." UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said he expects a complete withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon before a legislative election is held. The vote in principle will take place by May 31. On Thursday, the Syrian army completed the first stage of a planned pullback ahead of schedule, with some 4,000 troops having returned home, as more symbols of its near-30-year presence in Lebanon were hauled down.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Bush orders withdrawal as Arab states seek solution

2005-03-03

The United States and France stepped up calls Wednesday for a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon as Arab countries attempted to strike a formula that combines United Nations Resolution 1559 with the provisions of the Taif Accord to help Syria avoid a showdown with the world. U.S. President George W. Bush bluntly ordered Syria to withdraw its troops and intelligence services from Lebanon immediately, dismissing Syrian President Bashar Assad's pledge to pullout "in the next few months". Bush said: "The world is speaking with one voice when it comes to making sure that democracy has a chance to flourish in Lebanon." In an attempt to formulate an Arab initiative to the escalating international pressure on Damascus, Egypt's foreign minister said the United Nations should be involved in a Syrian pullout. Following a meeting with his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faisal Syrian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said: "A mechanism is being discussed for the implementation of Resolution 1559 and on ways in which the UN could be involved." In an interview with Reuters news agency, Syria's U.K. ambassador, Sami Khiyami confirmed Egypt and Saudi Arabia were among a number of Arab states seeking to combine Resolution 1559 with the provisions of the Taif Accord that ended Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war.

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