DAMASCUS, Syria, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Damascus welcomes the work of the International Red Cross in the country as long as the organization remains independent, the Syrian president said.
Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, met Syrian President Bashar Assad following a visit to the central prison in Damascus.
Kellenberger in a statement said Syrian authorities granted the ICRC access to detainees held by the Interior Ministry but hoped to gain access to all prisoners in the future.
"The Syrian authorities have granted the ICRC access to a place of detention for the first time," he noted.
Assad is under international pressure to stop his assault on demonstrators opposing his regime. More than 2,000 people were killed by Syrian security forces since the uprising began early this year.
Assad, according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, lauded the ICRC's work in Syria, noting its importance in light of what he described as media distortion of the events in his country.
"He also welcomed the committee's work as long as it remains independent and objective and is not politicized," SANA added.
A man claiming to be Adnan Bakkour, governor of the city of Hama, was seen in a video broadcast last week by al-Jazeera as resigning in protest of the crimes committed in the area by Syrian security forces.
An "official source" in Hama, however, told SANA Bakkour was forced into making a false confession at gunpoint.
