Syria: Abducted Activists' Whereabouts Remain Unknown 3 Years on, No Word on Douma 4

The prominent Syrian human rights defenders Razan Zaitouneh, Samira AlKhalil,

Wa'el Hamada and Nazim Hammadi, who remain missing three years

after armed men abducted them, should be released immediately, 56 human

rights organizations said today, on the anniversary of their abduction.

On December 9, 2013, a group of armed men stormed into the office of the

Violations Documentation Center (VDC) in Syria, a local human rights

monitoring group in Douma, in the Damascus countryside. They abducted

Zaitouneh, the head of the center, her husband, Wa'el Hamada, and

colleagues, Samira Al-Khalil and Nazem Hamadi. There has been no news of

their whereabouts since then.

The armed groups exercising de facto control over Douma at the time include

the Army of Islam, which is part of the Islamic Front, a coalition of armed

groups. The groups should immediately release the four human rights defenders

if they are in the groups' custody, or work toward ensuring they are released

unharmed and without delay. Countries that support these groups, as well as

religious leaders and others who may have influence over them, should also

press for the immediate release of the four activists and for an end to

abductions of civilians.

Zaitouneh had defended political prisoners in Syria since 2001 and played a

key role in the promotion and protection of human rights through her brave work

as a lawyer, activist and journalist. Since the beginning of the crisis in 2011,

Zaitouneh had played a key role in efforts to defend human rights for all and to

protect independent groups and activists in Syria. Along with a number of other

activists, she established the VDC, which monitors human rights violations and

records casualties in Syria.

She also co-founded the Local Coordination Committees (LCCs), which

coordinates the work of local committees that document human rights violations

in various cities and towns across Syria. And she established the Local

Development and Small Projects Support Office (LDSPS), which assists nongovernmental

organizations in besieged Eastern Ghouta. As a result of her work,

she had been threatened by both the Syrian government and armed opposition

groups in Douma several months before her abduction.

Al-Khalil had been a longtime political activist in Syria. The Syrian

government detained her between 1987 and 1991 for her activism. She later

worked in a publishing house before shifting her efforts to working with the

families of detainees and writing about detention in Syria. Before her

abduction, she was working to help women in Douma support themselves by

initiating small income-generating projects.

Hamada was also an activist before the 2011 uprising in Syria. When

peaceful protests first broke out in the country in 2011, the government

detained and later released him. He was an active member and co-founder of

the Local Coordination Committees and the VDC. Before his abduction

Hamada had been working to provide desperately needed humanitarian

assistance to the residents of besieged Eastern Ghouta.

Hammadi, a lawyer and poet, was one of the most prominent volunteer

defenders of political prisoners before and after the 2011 uprising in Syria. He

contributed to founding the Local Coordination Committees and also worked to

provide humanitarian assistance to residents of Eastern Ghouta.

Zaitouneh and her colleagues appear to have been abducted and arbitrarily

deprived of their liberty as punishment for their legitimate activities as human

rights defenders. Such actions are prohibited by international humanitarian law

and are contrary to international human rights standards. The armed groups in

control of the area and the governments who support them should do everything

in their power to facilitate the release of Zaitouneh, Hamada, Al-Khalil and

Hamadi.

List of 56 signatories:

1. Amnesty International (AI)

2. Arab Foundation for Development and Citizenship

3. Article 19

4. Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID)

5. Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR)

6. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)

7. Center for Documentation of Violations in Syria (VDC)

8. Center for Women's Equality (CWE)

9. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation

10. Digital Lighthouse

11. English PEN

12. El Nadim Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence

13. EuroMed Rights

14. European - Bahraini Organisation for Human Rights (EBOHR)

15. FIDH, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection

of Human Rights Defenders

16. Front Line Defenders (FLD)

17. Foundation to Restore Equality and Education in Syria (FREESyria)

18. Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)

19. Hivos International

20. Human Rights Watch (HRW)

21. Index on Censorship

22. Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)

23. International Center for Supporting Rights and Freedoms (ICSRF)

24. International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN)

25. International Media Support (IMS)

26. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)

27. Iraqi Al-Amal Association

28. Iraqi Journalists Rights Defense Association (IJRDA)

29. Iraqi Network for Social Media (INSM)

30. Justice for Life observatory in DeirEzzor - Syria

31. Kvinna till Kvinna

32. Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L)

33. Lawyer's Rights Watch Canada

34. Libya's Future Center for Media and Culture

35. Maharat Foudnation

36. Martin Ennals Foundation

37. MENA Media Monitoring

38. Metro Centre to Defend Journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan

39. NGOs Platform of Saida (Tajamoh)

40. Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA)

41. PAX

42. PEN International

43. RAW in WAR (Reach All Women in War)

44. Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

45. Sisters' Arab Forum for Human Rights (SAF)

46. SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom

47. Syria Justice and Accountability Center (SJAC)

48. Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Researches

49. Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM)

50. Syrian Centre for Democracy and Civil Rights

51. Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR)

52. Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ)

53. Vigilance Association for Democracy and the Civil State in

Tunisia

54. Vivarta

55. World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework

of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

56. Umammu Organisation in Syria