A/HRC/18/53 information laws. At least two new laws have since been promulgated, and a decree was issued in April to regulate the status of Syrian Kurds.63 In a note verbale dated 9 June 2011 (see annex II), the Government pointed out that, in early June, a decision was taken to establish a committee for national dialogue. In the same note verbale, it announced that a judicial committee had been established to investigate and bring to justice all perpetrators of crimes against protestors and security personnel in Dar’a on 31 March 2011. It also stated that the mandate of the committee had been recently extended to investigate all crimes committed against civilians, as well as security and army personnel, throughout the country. 66. At various times, Syrian officials, including President Assad (such as during an address to Damascus University on 20 June 2011), acknowledged the legitimacy of certain demands by protestors, drawing a distinction between those with legitimate demands and those aiming to destabilize the country. In its note verbale dated 27 June 2011 (see annex IV), the Government claimed that those aiming to destabilize the country had used legitimate protests as a cover for acts of sabotage. The Government maintained that these groups had attacked “a large number of innocent civilians and security forces” and were seeking to create “sectarian rifts” and “overthrow the regime and establish Salafist emirates”. According to the Government, 260 members of the armed and security forces had been killed and a further 8,000 injured in the period up to late June 2011. 67. In its note verbale dated 5 August 2011 (see annex V), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to questions by OHCHR and provided information pertaining to, inter alia, existing criminal legislation; laws granting full citizenship rights to Kurds; the adoption of parliamentary decrees to end the state of emergency; the granting of a general amnesty, which, according to the Government, has led to the release of 10,433 detainees; and the adoption of new electoral laws. The Ministry also referred to the conduct of Syrian authorities, and provided figures of cases of torture before the Syrian courts. In the same note, it claimed that the Government had established a commission to investigate allegations of crimes in the context of the ongoing events in the Syrian Arab Republic. The commission was established pursuant to decision No. L/905 of 31 March 2011 issued by the Deputy President of the Judiciary Council. The commission comprises, inter alia, the Attorney General of the Syrian Arab Republic, as Chairperson; the Head of the Judicial Inspection Department; the First Prosecutor of Damascus; and the First Investigative Judge of Damascus. The commission has been mandated to investigate into the circumstances leading to the death of a number of civilians and military personnel in Dar’a and Latakia. According to the information given in the note verbale, the commission has gathered statements from a number of witnesses in Dar’a and investigated individual allegations. Those investigated have included the former Governor of Dar’a and members of the security forces. In reference to the matter of mass graves, the Ministry noted that some armed “terrorist groups” had attacked a police station in Jisr Al Shughour with live ammunition, killing all police personnel. According to the Ministry, the corpses were then removed by bulldozers, piled up and buried in mass graves. 68. OHCHR shared the report of the mission with the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic on 10 August for comments. The Permanent Mission addressed a note verbale to OHCHR on 16 August (see annex VI), in which it pointed out that the Government abided by international human rights law and had embarked on a series of thorough reforms. It added that those who provided information to the mission in refugee camps had breached Syrian law and therefore could not be considered reliable sources. The 63 Legislative Decree No. 49, adopted on 7 April 2011. Article 1 states that individuals registered as foreigners in the Al Hasakah Governorate shall be granted Syrian nationality. 19