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September 29, 2011
Dear Ambassador,
We, the eight human rights and advocacy organizations below, write to urge you to support a strong resolution in the Security Council on the situation in Syria. After months of ongoing human rights violations that very likely amount to crimes against humanity, it is necessary for the Security Council urgently to take formal action.
Kidnappings, Deaths of Detainees, Including Woman’s Brother, Widespread in Homs
(New York, September 28, 2011) – The killing and mutilation of Zaynab al-Hosni, 18, by unknown persons highlights the urgent need for the UN Security Council to demand access to Syria for an international investigation into rampant killings and torture in Syria, Human Rights Watch said today. Zaynab, whose brothers are active in anti-government protests, had vanished in late July after going out to buy medication for her mother. Syrian authorities returned al-Hosni’s dismembered body to her family on September 17, 2011, without providing any information on the circumstances surrounding her killing, and forced her mother to sign a paper stating that “armed gangs” had killed her.
Deyaa Al Abdullah, a known poet and writer, was disappeared by the Syrian Political Security forces on 29 June 2011. His family has no news from him since this day. Thirty eight years old, Al Abdullah usually lives with his family in a village named Al Tha’lah in the Al Swedah region. He is a known poet and the author of a number of publications. He was already detained due to his writings in 1999, only being released nearly a year later following a general amnesty, without any judicial procedures having been opened against him.
On 4 September, Ayo Jwan, a young activist and human rights defender, was disappeared from his home in Al Hasakah by members of the Political Security.
His family has no news from him since this date. Ayo Jwan is 30 years old and lives with his family in Ras Al Ain, Al Hasakah, Syria.
URGENT ACTION
Haytham Al Hamwi, a Syrian pro-reform activist in exile, told Amnesty International that, according to information he had received, more than 20 members of the security forces believed to belong to Air Force Intelligence arrived at his family\’s home on 23 September looking for his 22-year-old younger brother, Muhammad Muhammad Al Hamwi. His brother was with neighbours at the time, but the security forces arrested his 65-year-old father, Muhammad Yassin Al Hamwi.
23
September 2011
Fresh
evidence of the extreme brutality being meted out to Syrian protesters and
their families has been revealed today by Amnesty International.The
mutilated body of 18-year-old Zainab al-Hosni of Homs,
the first woman known to have died in custody during Syria’s recent unrest, was
discovered by her family in horrific circumstances on 13 September.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PUBLIC STATEMENT
Date: 23 September 2011
Amnesty International has called on the Syrian Bar
Association to end disciplinary proceedings instigated against Syrian Kurdish
human rights lawyer Mustafa Kheder Osso as they appear to be aimed at
penalizing him for expressing political views in a TV interview and taking part
in a protest.
23 September 2011
Fresh evidence of the extreme brutality being meted out to
Syrian protesters and their families has been revealed today by Amnesty
International. The mutilated body of
18-year-old Zainab al-Hosni of Homs, the first woman known to have died in
custody during Syria’s recent unrest, was discovered by her family in horrific
circumstances on 13 September.
URGENT ACTION
Kurdish writer and pro-reform activist, Hussein ‘Essou, aged
59, has been held incommunicado since his arrest in al-Hasakah, north-eastern
Syria, on 3 September 2011. He suffers from a heart condition and may not be
receiving the regular medication he requires. He is at risk of torture and
other ill-treatment.
UN Commission Should Investigate Ambulance Shooting in Homs
(New York, September 14, 2011) – A merciless attack on a Red
Crescent ambulance is the latest evidence of grave danger to humanitarian
workers in the embattled Syrian city of Homs, Human Rights Watch said today.