Syria executes 24 people convicted of deliberately starting wildfires
October 22, 2021, 4:40 am

Syria executes 24 people convicted of deliberately starting wildfires

Wildfires-Forest/Pixabay

The BBC reported, Syria's government says it has executed 24 people convicted of deliberately starting deadly wildfires last year.

A justice ministry statement said, eleven others were sentenced to life in prison and five minors were given jail terms of between 10 and 12 years.

It described them as criminals who had committed "terrorist acts".

The BBC said, they allegedly admitted igniting fires in mountainous coastal regions of the war-torn country in September and October 2020 that killed three people.

It mentioned that human rights groups believe that thousands of people have been executed by President Bashar al-Assad's government since the civil war began in 2011.

UN war crimes investigators said in a recent report that they had been told by witnesses about the killings of detainees without trial or following unfair trials by counter-terrorism or field military courts.

When the wildfires erupted last year they were attributed to a heat wave that was unusual for the time of the year, as well as warm eastern winds and dried-out vegetation on the ground.

The justice ministry said, local authorities documented at total of 187 wildfires around Latakia, Tartous, Homs and Hama provinces that affected 280 towns and villages. It added, they devastated 13,000 hectares (32,000 acres) of agricultural land and 11,000 hectares of forested land.

According to the BBC, wildfires in the Eastern Mediterranean region have become a recurring annual event due to climate change, which increases the risk of the hot, dry weather that is likely to fuel them.

It noted that the world has already warmed by about 1.2C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.

Source: BBC

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