Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: A Death in Detention

Protesters in Homs last night give a satirical "welcome" to Syrian President Assad's birthday

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2115 GMT: More criticism for the Syrian regime to consider tonight....

Three prominent Syrian clerics of the Alawite sect, to which President Assad belongs, have denounced the “atrocities” committed by the regime against protesters.

“We declare our innocence from these atrocities carried out by Bashar al-Assad and his aides who belong to all religious sects,” Mohib Nisafi, Yassin Hussein, and Mussa Mansour said in a joint statement from Homs.

The clerics continued, “The daily reports of kidnappings, killings and harassment of members of the Alawite sect are all untrue. They are designed and spread to cause divisions among people united against the regime....“The children of Homs, Sunnis, Alawite and Christians, have lived and will continue to live in coexistence and harmony.”

Then the clerics came out in opposition to the regime:

Six months have passed in this revolution and people have been killed or wounded. The climate is ripe for victory. There is no other way left to save the self except by joining the peaceful demonstrations.

This regime and its president will not rule you forever.

And then there are the nightly demonstrations --- the Kisweh section of Damascus:

Anadan in Aleppo Province:

Rastan in Homs Province:

2110 GMT: Claimed footage of Syrian security forces in Al-Kowatli Street in the Damascus suburb of Douma:

1753 GMT: Reuters reports on the "defiant" Bouzaid Dorda, Libya's former chief-spy and head of Muammar Qaddafi's External Security Organization (ESO). Dorda denies any wrongdoing, and will not reveal what he may know about the location of other top Qaddafi officials:

1738 GMT: The women of Bayada, Homs, protest against Syrian president Bashar al Assad:

1658 GMT: The description of the video reads, "Aleppo, Syria: Shabiha and security forces storm the area arresting anyone they believe is a protester."

1648 GMT: Al Arabiya is reporting that 10 people have been killed in Hama. According to the LCCS, a father and son were killed in Homs, Hasan Sakar Talas and his son Raied, and as we've been reporting, 12 year old Ezzat Badidi has been killed in Douma, Damascus.

1640 GMT: Two important videos today from Douma, a Damascus suburb, reportedly taken today. The videos would have been notable for their size, but now they are notable for a different reason. They were taken at protests during a funeral for Sobhi Salam, who was killed previously by Syrian security forces. These videos were taken before security forces fired on the crowd, reportedly killing 12 year old Ezzat Babidi (noted below at 1423 GMT):

Women at the funeral:

1544 GMT: This video reports to show protesters chanting anti-Assad slogans as they mourn the lost in Homs last night:

1449 GMT: Satellite channel Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr has been shut down in Egypt for broadcasting live events in the country without receiving proper clearance by the government, though the government continues to deny that the move was made because of Al Jazeera's content. Al Jazeera, on the other hand, claims that they did file the paperwork and are being censored.

1438 GMT: We may finally have the beginning of the end of the crisis in Yemen. According to the AFP, citing Yemen's State run SABA News, Yemen's President Saleh, who has been in Saudi Arabia for months while recovering from a bomb blast, has given his vice president the authority to negotiate a transfer of power, effectively accepting a GCC authored compromise:

It said that Saleh, who has been absent from the country for more than three months, "has given the vice president Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi the necessary constitutional authority to negotiate" the power transfer mechanism with the opposition, SABA said.

The presidential decree authorises Hadi to sign on Saleh's behalf the so-called Gulf Initiative, which was proposed by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and calls for a power transfer.

1429 GMT: The Egyptian interior minister has vowed to use live ammunition against protesters if they attack any government building or police station. The comments came as 92 people were arrested in the wake of the protesters dismantling of a wall around the Israeli embassy over the weekend.

1423 GMT: Activists have posted an EXTREMELY GRAPHIC VIDEO claiming to show Ezzat Al-Babidi,12 years old, who was reportedly shot in the head during a funeral march in Douma.

UPDATE - Confession - I saw the preview, but did not watch the full video. A correspondent notes that it shows the last breaths of this child:

"It's not gruesome, James,It's absolutely INSANELY inhuman.

We encourage you not to watch it.

1419 GMT: Colonel Muammar Qaddafi has made yet another short television address. According to Reuters,

"Colonel Gaddafi tells Libyans not to "give up to colonisation of the country" in short message read out on Syria's Arrai TV.

1415 GMT: Yesterday, September 11th, was Syrian President Bashar al Assad's birthday. In this video, the people of Syria wish Bashar a very unhappy birthday:

1409 GMT: James Miller takes over the liveblog.

This video claims to show Syrian police whipping the feet of a protester in a "school," perhaps in a university. The footage appears to be yet another that was taken by a Syrian soldier:

1145 GMT: Claimed footage of Yemeni Security forces using live bullets to disperse a march in Taiz:

1105 GMT: Bouthaina Shaaban, the media advisor to Syrian President Assad, has said that about 1,400 people, including 700 army and security officials, have been killed since the uprising against the regime began in March.

Shaaban dismissed the total of 2600 dead reported earlier on Monday by Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. "We have a list of [the victims' names], and we can provide it," Shaaban said following talks with Russian officials in Moscow.

1025 GMT:There are conflicting accounts of deadly incidents at an oil refinery near the Libyan coastal town of Ras Lanuf this morning.

Reuters reports that Qaddafi forces have attacked the front gate of the refinery, killing 15 guards and injuring two, according to witnesses.

The attackers came in 14 or 15 trucks from the direction of the Qaddafi stronghold in Sirte. A Reuters reporter saw the dead bodies of 15 men with gunshot wounds at a Ras Lanuf hospital where the injured were being treated.

However, Associated Press carries a far different narrative from Colonel Hamid al-Hasi, the commander of the National Transitional Council's anti-Gadhafi force in eastern Libya. He says there were two incidents --- in the first, a group of 15 employees set fire Monday to the oil facility, about 615 kilometres (380 miles) southeast of Tripoli. He said five of the saboteurs were killed and the rest arrested.

Al-Hasi said that there was a separate attack by armed men in four vehicles, with at least five of the assailants killed.

The Ras Lanuf Factory for Production of Oil and Gas was not fully operational. Around 60 staff were present when it was attacked.

1005 GMT: A British military spokesman has confirmed via Twitter that British warplanes have destroyed a command-and-control facility, a tank, and a rocket launcher of Qaddafi forces near their strongholds of Bani Walid and Sabha in Libya.

0925 GMT: Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, has told the UN Human Rights Council that at least 2,600 people have been killed since the start of the Syrian uprising in March.

0720 GMT: Human Rights Watch has called on Saudi Arabian authorities to drop charges against prominent human rights activist Walid Abu al-Khair.

Abu al-Khair is charged with "offending the judiciary, communicating with foreign agencies, and asking for a constitutional monarchy" among other offences. He was summoned to court in Jeddah on Sunday, but neither the judge nor the prosecutor showed up for the hearing.

0510 GMT: Libya's National Transitional Council has asked insurgent forces to accept the authority of Council head Mahmoud Jibril.

The call comes amidst reports of discontent amongst some forces, for example in Libya's third city Misurata, with the NTC's performance.

On Sunday, Jibril said an interim government would be announced in 7 to 10 days.

0500 GMT: Human Rights Watch claim that Syrian human rights activist Ghiyath Matar was tortured to death by security forces while he was in detention.

The body of Matar, a leading protest organiser, was returned to his family last Tuesday. Activists say it  bore bruises on the chest and signs of injuries to the face.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement., "The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the killing of Syrian human rights activist Ghiyath Matar while in the custody of Syrian Security Forces....His brave commitment to confronting the regime's despicable violence with peaceful protest serves as an example for the Syrian people and for all those who suffer under the yoke of oppression."

Nuland continued, "We stand with the Syrian people in their resistance to tyranny....We call on the Assad regime to immediately cease all violence against the Syrian people and release all political prisoners. We again call on Assad to step aside and allow the Syrian people to embark upon the democratic transformation they demand."

Meanwhile, there were overnight protests across Syria.   These are only three of a series of clips posted by an activist. Palmyra in the centre:

Saraqeb in the northwest:

Idlib Province in the northwest: