Syrian Arab Republic: Concern for the enforced disappearance of 3 human rights defenders
SYRIA: Concern for the enforced disappearance of 3
human rights defenders
Paris-Geneva, May 19, 2015 – Three
prominent human rights defenders arbitrarily detained since February 2012 for
promoting and protecting human rights in Syria were last seen on May 3, 2015.
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (an FIDH-OMCT joint
programme) is deeply concerned by their enforced disappearance and calls for
their immediate and unconditional release.
Messrs.
Mazen Darwish, Hani Al-Zaitani
and
Hussain Ghrer, respectively President and members
of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), who are
arbitrarily
detained since February 2012, for promoting freedom of
expression and monitoring gross human rights violations committed in the country
have been unaccounted for since May 3, 2015.
On several occasions, visits to the Adra
Prison, where Messrs. Mazen Darwish, Hani Al-Zaitani
andHussain Ghrer had been transferred ahead of a
verdict hearing scheduled on May 13, 2015, were unsuccessful. On May 10, 2015,
prison authorities stated that the three defenders were not within the premises
of the prison, as they had been summonsed for interrogation outside of the
prison.
Furthermore, on May 13, 2015 the prison
authorities failed to present the three detainees before court for a verdict
hearing scheduled for that day. The trial, which has already been rescheduled 23
times since February 2013, was therefore suspended until June 1, 2015.
“Syrian authorities should
immediately disclose the fate and whereabouts ofMazen
Darwish, Hani Al-Zaitani and Hussain
Ghrer and put an end to the practice of enforced
disappearance”, said FIDH President, Karim Lahidji.
On May 3, 2015, Mazen Darwish was awarded the
UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize “in recognition of the work that
he has carried out in Syria for more than ten years at great personal sacrifice,
enduring a travel ban, harassment, as well as repeated detention and
torture”.
During nine months in 2012, the three were held
in conditions amounting to enforced disappearance and subjected to acts of
torture. There has been no investigation into these abuses.
The Observatory recalls that the UN General
Assembly, in its Resolution 67/262 adopted on May 15, 2013 called for the
release of the three defenders. In January 2014, the UN Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) also found that the three defenders had been
arbitrarily deprived of their liberty due to their human rights activities and
called for their immediate release. UN Security Council Resolution 2139, adopted
on February 22, 2014, also demanded the release of all arbitrarily detained
people in Syria.
“Syrian authorities should listen
to UN calls and immediately and unconditionally release Messrs. Mazen Darwish,
Hani Al-Zaitani and Hussain Ghrer as their detention is arbitrary and only aims
at preventing them from carrying out their legitimate and peaceful human rights
activities in Syria”, concluded OMCT Secretary General Gerald
Staberock.
The Observatory for the Protection of Human
Rights Defenders (OBS) was created in 1997 by FIDHand OMCT. The objective of this programme is
to intervene to prevent or remedy to situations of repression against human
rights defenders.
For more information, please contact
:
FIDH: Arthur Manet/Lucie Kröning: + 33
(0) 1 43 55 25 18
OMCT: Miguel Martín Zumalacárregui: +
41 (0) 22 809 49 24