Syria: Mazen Darwish to commence his third year of pre-trial detention
Publisher | International Federation for Human Rights |
Publication Date | 14 February 2014 |
Cite as | International Federation for Human Rights, Syria: Mazen Darwish to commence his third year of pre-trial detention, 14 February 2014, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5329b14c14.html [accessed 21 October 2022] |
Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Paris-Geneva, February 14, 2014. February 16 will mark the two-year anniversary of the arrest of journalist and human rights defender Mazen Darwish and two of his colleagues, who remain arbitrarily detained without trial in Damascus Central Prison in Adra. FIDH and OMCT, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, reiterate on this occasion their solidarity with the human rights movement in Syria and call for the release of all human rights defenders detained or disappeared.
"Though, there is no greater happiness for a prisoner than the knowledge that the outer world is remembering him, as devastation and bloodshed has engulfed my homeland, happiness has become a kind of luxury for which I feel ashamed."Mazen Darwish, June 10, 2013, Damascus Central Prison in Adra
Mazen Darwish, President of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), together with two other SCM members, Mohamed Hani Al Zaitani and Hussein Hammad Ghrer, lingers in pre-trial detention since February 2012 for advocating for freedom of expression and for monitoring gross human rights violations committed in Syria in particular since March 2011.
On February 16, 2012, Mazen Darwish was arrested along with 15 other persons. During approximately nine months, Darwish and some of his colleagues were assumed "forcibly disappeared" and subjected to acts of torture. Yet the judges have so far failed to open investigations into these allegations, contrary to their obligation under international law. In February 2013, five of them, including the three detained SCM members and two other colleagues, Mansour Omari and Abdel Rahman Hamada, were informed that they would be prosecuted by the Anti-Terrorism Court for "publicising terrorist acts", charges which are completely unjustified. If convicted, the activists could be imprisoned for up to 15 years. The trial has been adjourned on numerous occasions. The next hearing has been scheduled for March 10, 2014.
"Human rights defenders have been paying a very heavy toll in Syria. Dozens of them are arbitrarily detained, sometimes incommunicado, or have been 'forcibly disappeared'. Meaningful negotiation for an end to the Syrian conflict requires that all peaceful advocates be immediately released", declared Karim Lahidji, FIDH President.
"The continuous detention of Mazen Darwish, Hussein Hammad Ghrer and Mohamed Hani Al Zaitani clearly forms part of a wider campaign of threats and harassment against human rights defenders in Syria. We therefore call on the Syrian authorities to release them immediately and unconditionally as well as to order investigations into the above-mentioned allegations of torture and ill-treatment", further urged Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General.
On the occasion of the two-year anniversary of the detention of Mazen Darwish, Hani Al Zaitani and Hussein Ghrer, the Observatory reiterates its call to the Syrian authorities to immediately comply with the decision of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), which recently declared the detention of the three human rights defenders as arbitrary and asked for their immediate release. More generally, the Observatory urges the Syrian authorities to release all human rights defenders detained in Syria merely to prevent them from carrying out their legitimate and peaceful human rights work.
Last Update 14 February