SYRIA: SENIOR ARMY DEFECTOR EXECUTED

January 29, 2012: the Syrian Association for the Defense of Human Rights claimed that soldiers from the Air Intelligence carried out the death sentence by firing squad against army dissident Hussein Harmoush. The Association said the news about the execution came from Syrian military sources. It demanded that the authorities hand over his body to his family for burial in accordance with the legal rules.
Harmoush appeared in a video in June 2011 denouncing his government and calling on fellow soldiers to rebel. Al-Harmoush disappeared from a refugee camp where he had been living in Turkey on 29 August. Then he appeared on Syria TV, contradicting previous statements he had made, saying that "during my service in the Syrian army, nobody ordered me to fire at civilians." (Sources: www.albawaba.com, 30/01/2012)