Hama

Middle East unrest as the Ramadan holiday begins

Syria’s government cracked down on democratic protesters in the city of Hama on Sunday, leaving as many as 130 dead.

Syrian cartoonist Akram Raslan was arrested by Syrian authorities on October 2, 2012 in Hama. He was last seen on July 26, 2013. Reports that he is now dead have been impossible to verify and many hold out hope that he is still alive.

News that a detained Syrian cartoonist is dead is still impossible to verify

Arts, Culture & Media

Longtime Syrian dissident Kamal Labwani decries abuses by Assad government

UN condemns Syrian government for ‘violations of human rights’

Government crackdown in Syria

New Massacre in Syria

Global Politics

International leaders are condemning a new atrocity in Syria. About 80 men women and children have been killed in a rural area near Hama.

The World

UK & US Implicated in Rendition of Libyans

Conflict & Justice

Marco Werman talks with Ian Cobain of the British newspaper The Guardian about the case of Abdel Hakim Belhaj and Fatima Bouchar. The two say they were victims of extraordinary rendition and torture at the hands of both British and American authorities.

Syria Protester: ‘Friends are Falling on the Ground in Front of Our Eyes’

Conflict & Justice

Opposition activist Mousab al-Hamadee was among the demonstrators testing the limits of the ceasefire today in Hama, Syria. Al-Hamadee tells host Marco Werman that security forces started firing on the protesters as they converged at Hama’s Assi Square

Update on Syria as Violence Continues

As part of The Takeaway’s week-long focus on Syria, Ayat Shukairy, a listener from Detroit, joins the program to share updates from her family and friends currently living in Damascus, Homs, and Hama.  Syrian government forces have reportedly stepped up their attacks on the besieged city of Homs. Roads in and out of parts of the […]

The Hama Massacre: 30 Years Later

Back in February 1982, then-Syrian President Hafez al-Assad unleashed his troops on the city of Hama in an attempt to wipe out the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters. The Massacre lasted for a month and tens of thousands of Syrians lost their lives. Now the Syrian people are rising against the current president Bashar al-Assad […]