Syria: Human rights defenders arrested in recent
crackdown, others in hiding

Alkarama, 06 May 2011

Syrian human rights defenders are being targeted by the
Syrian authorities as protests escalate across the country. Haytham Al-Maleh
and Razan Zaitouni are sought after by the Syrian authorities and are currently
in hiding, while Fayez Sara, Dana Jawabra and Hassan Abdel Azim are all
currently in custody. These men are long-standing human rights defenders and
are leading voices of Syrian protests. They have all either been previously
arrested and served jail sentences or are currently under a travel ban.

On 4 May 2011, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders regarding these five
cases. Alkarama fears for their physical and mental integrity, as they are at
risk of torture and ill-treatment by the Syrian security services. Haitham
Al-Maleh and Fayez Sara are amongst many Syrian activists to have gone into
hiding to avoid being arrested.

Thousands of people continue to be arrested, tortured and
killed for their alleged participation in, or calls for, peaceful
demonstrations. Despite the abolition of the emergency law and the State
Security Court on 20 April 2011, arbitrary arrests and human rights abuses
continue to be committed by the authorities with total impunity. Human rights
activist and journalists are the security forces main targets, and have been
forced to go into hiding to avoid being arrested. Alkarama is informed that
Syrian security forces have lists of human rights defenders whom they are
seeking to arrest at their homes.

Here are the personal details of the five human rights
defenders in question:

–       
Mr Haitham Al-Maleh (‫åíËã ÇáãÇáÍ) is an 80 year-old leading Syrian
human rights activist and lawyer. As an outspoken critic of the government, he
has been the subject of multiple arrests and was recently tried and sentence to
three years imprisonment by the Syrian authorities on the grounds of having
"spread false information" and "weakening the national
sentiment". He was released on 8 March 2011 following a year and a half of
detention, he remains threatened by security forces, and is currently in
hiding. Alkarama had already previously worked on his case, informing the
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of his imprisonment – which was found to
be arbitrary. He is currently being sought for arrest.

–       
Mr Fayez Sara (‫ÝÇíÒ ÓÇÑÉ) is a well-known 61 year-old Syrian
writer and journalist. He was arrested on Monday 11 April 2011 in Damascus,
after having participated to a meeting of the National Council for the
"Damascus Declaration". He was arrested in 2008 and detained for two
years for having signed the declaration, which called for the emergency law to
be lifted and the established right to freedom of expression and assembly.

–       
Ms Razan Zaitouni (‫ÑÒÇä ÒíÊæäÉ) is a 34 year-old lawyer whose clients
are political prisoners. She is the founder of the Syrian Human Rights
Organization and is banned from travelling outside the country. In recent
weeks, she has come under considerable harassment from security forces. Ms
Zaitouni had to leave her home and has been in hiding ever since. Security
agents tried to arrest her husband, Wael Al-Hamada, also a political activist,
from his work place, but he managed to escape. Her brother-in-law, Mr Abdel
Rahman Al-Hamada, 22, was however arrested at their house and remains
disappeared to date. Alkarama intends to submit his case to the relevant UN
Human Rights Special Procedures.

–       
Ms Dana Jawabra (‫ÏÇäÇ ÌæÇÈÑÉ) is a 39 year-old engineer, journalist
and human rights campaigner. She was arrested on 16 March while taking part in
a silent protest in Damascus to demand the release of the thousands of
political prisoners in Syria. Ms Jawabra was released on 27 March and
rearrested on 3 May 2011 by secret police agents outside her home in Damascus.
She remains disappeared to date.

–       
Mr Hassan Abdel Azim (‫ÍÓä ÚÈÏÇáÚÙíã) is an 81 year-old lawyer and human
rights activist, Secretary General of the Arab Socialist Union party and
spokesman for the National Democratic Rally, a left-leaning opposition party.
He was arrested in Damascus on 30 April 2011 from his office by security
forces, who took him to an unknown destination. They did not provide any legal
document to explain the reasons for his arrest, despite the lifting of
emergency rule.

According to sources, many other human rights campaigners
from across Syria have also been arrested and threatened as part of the crackdown
on protests. Peaceful demonstrations, which began in mid-March 2011, are
calling for a significant improvement to the human rights situation in Syria
and end to corruption. Despite putting themselves at risk, Syrian rights
campaigners continue to criticise the security forces for having resorted to
violence to quell peaceful protestors.

The pattern of violence and general human rights violations
is on the rise and it is becoming clear that the problem has now reached a
systematic and widespread level.

Alkarama ask the Syrian authorities to immediately remedy
the situation by releasing all detainees and putting an end to all harassment
against human rights defenders. We also ask the Syrian government to take
appropriate sanctions against those who mistreated or arrested human rights
defenders, and to make sure that they respect Human Rights Council resolution
S-16/1, which calls on Syria to "immediately cease any intimidation,
persecution or arbitrary arrests of individuals, including lawyers, human rights
defenders and journalists".