Damascus - A number of inmates were killed and wounded when prison authorities put down a riot staged by Islamist political prisoners in Sidnaya prison north of Damascus over poor conditions, Syrian human rights groups said. "It is difficult to known how many people have been wounded and killed as the authorities have confiscated all cell phones inside the prison," Ammar al-Qurbi, the president of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria (NOHR) told the Dubai-based al-Arabiya news channel.
The head of the Syria-based group dismissed media reports putting the number of dead at 25, saying it was is too high and difficult to confirm.
Earlier, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said on its website that Islamist prisoners staged a protest on Saturday morning in Sidnaya jail, prompting military police to open fire.
The London-based group cited an inmate as saying scores of prisoners had been killed and others had fled to a roof of the jail.
Witnesses told Deutsche Presse-Agentur
