Four
Syrian activists abducted in the
Award-winning
Syrian human rights defender and writer Razan Zaitouneh, along with her
husband, Wa’el Hamada, and two colleagues, Nazem Hamadi and Samira
Khalil, were abducted by unknown individuals on 9 December 2013 from a
joint office for the Violations Documentation Center (VDC) and the Local
Development and Small Projects Support (LDSPS) in the Damascus suburb of Douma,
part of Eastern Ghouta, an area under the control of a number of armed opposition
groups that is being besieged by government forces.
In a
joint statement issued on 10 December 2013, the VDC and the LDSPS attributed the
abduction of Razan Zaitouneh to her activities as a founding member of these
organizations. The VDC is an independent non-governmental organization that has
been mainly documenting human rights abuses committed by the Syrian government in
the context of the conflict. The LDSPS provides humanitarian assistance,
particularly to medical centres in areas like
Like
many other human rights activists perceived by the government to be involved in
pro-reform protests, Razan Zaitouneh was forced into hiding in 2011 after
receiving threats from the Syrian authorities. In the last few months, she
received threats from at least one armed opposition group in the
Razan
Zaitouneh was recently the recipient of the 2013 International Women of Courage
Award. She also has received the Anna Politkovskaya Prize and, in 2011, the
European Parliament’s Sakhorov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
Civil
society activists, writers, journalists and lawyers have borne a heavy price
during the ongoing conflict in
Co-signing
organizations in alphabetical order:
1. Alkarama
Foundation
2. Amnesty
International
3. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
4. Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights
Network
5.
6. Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing
Countries (Hivos)
7. Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)
8. International Civil Society Action
Network (ICAN)
9. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) - in the
framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
10. International Media Support (IMS)
11. LAWYERS FOR LAWYERS
12.
PEN International
13.
Reporters Without Borders
14.
15.
16. World
Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) - in the framework of the Observatory for
the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
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