MsMa reportedly confessed that she spread a rumour online after hearing some people say that Ms Yuan was gang raped by security guards at the market where she worked, which led to her either committing suicide by jumping from the building or possibly being pushed off by the guards.
Ms. Ghosheh said residents of neighboring villages in the region known as Ma'arzaf came to speak with the monitors but none of them witnessed the killings which antiregime activists say claimed the lives of at least 78 people belonging to the country's Sunni majority sect.