Austrian President Renews Call for Ending War on Syria

VIENNA, (ST)-Austrian President Heinz Fischer has renewed his call for putting an end to the war waged on Syria, asserting that by doing this the world will contribute to ending terrorism there.

In a New Year statement, Fischer urged all countries to work as to attain a peaceful settlement to the crisis in Syria and to confront other crises hitting the entire world.

He urged fair distribution of refugees among European states, stressing the need to receive the refugees without specifying limits, respect the refugees’ human rights and cling to European agreements in this regard.

 In another context, Austria condemned Saudi Arabia’s execution of civilians, activists and politicians in the kingdom, lashing out the Saudi human rights violations and stressing that the executions contradict international law and human rights conventions.

“A regime that sentences civilians and innocent people to death and mass murder, can’t be an ally of Europe,” member of the Austrian Socialist Party at the European Parliament Josef Weidenholzer said.

Hamda Mustafa