UAE orders expulsion of Syrians

The United Arab Emirates
has ordered the expulsion of dozens of Syrians who held a
protest in Dubai over their home government's violent crackdown
on rebels, campaign group Human Rights Watch said on Friday.
The U.S.-based organisation called on the UAE to cancel the
deportations, saying they showed the Gulf state's intolerance of
any form of dissent.
There was no immediate reaction by state media or UAE
officials to the statement.
"The UAE calls on Syrian President (Bashar al-) Assad to
respect the right of peaceful protesters, yet it is expelling
Syrians from its country for exercising this basic right,"
regional HRW director Sarah Leah Whitson said in a statement.
"These expulsions show that Emirati authorities are
intolerant of any protest or expression of dissent on UAE soil
even if it is not geared toward them," she added.
Syrian authorities are battling a near year-long uprising
against Assad's rule that started with peaceful protests but has
escalated into an armed conflict.