SYRIA. TWO PUBLIC HANGINGS IN ALEPPO IN SEPTEMBER

October 6, 2009: two men were hanged on September 3 in Aleppo, Syria, for armed robbery and murder, according to a foreign witness. An Italian tourist who was in Syria in September with an organised tour group told Hands Off Cain: “I don’t remember exactly when I arrived in Aleppo, but it seems like it was September 3rd. Travelling to the hotel by bus, I saw a gathering of people in a square not far away and I glimpsed people hanging from the gallows in the crowd.”
“I asked information from the tour guide about the place. Embarrassed, he told me that they were hanging two men,” the source who preferred to remain anonymous said.
“I asked why they were sentenced to death and the guide told me the two recently robbed and murdered an elderly couple in the city,” the Italian tourist, whose identity and reliability is certain to Hands Off Cain, said.
“After the executions, the bodies remained hanging as a warning to the people. I’m not certain for how long, if it was for a day or longer,” the witness explained.
In Syria, executions are kept totally secret. News doesn’t filter into local papers or even to relatives. When the bodies are returned to relatives, they don’t know if their loved ones died by torture or by execution. In 2008, there was at least one execution in Syria, while in 2007 there were at least seven. (Sources: Hands Off Cain, 06/10/2009)