Incommunicado detention of Ms. Razan Zaitouneh’s husband
and brother
June 3, 2011
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights
Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights
(FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent
intervention in the following situation in Syria.
Description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about
the incommunicado detention of the husband and brother of human rights lawyer
Ms. Razan Zaitouneh, Messrs. Wa’el Hammada and Abd al-Rahman Hammada,
since respectively May 12 and April 30, 2011.
According to the information received, Ms. Razan Zaitouneh
and her husband have been in hiding since April 2011, as the authorities are
pursuing human rights and pro-democracy activists, including Ms. Zaitouneh, in
the context of the repression of the social protest movement that started in
March 2011.
On April 30, 2011, security agents arrested Mr. Abd
al-Rahman Hammada while he was getting some clothes at the couple’s flat. The
security agents tried to organise a trap to arrest Mr. Wa’el Hammada but
failed. On May 12, Mr. Wa’el Hammada was eventually arrested at his workplace.
Since then,
the two men have been held incommunicado at an unknown location. The Syrian
security forces would reportedly continue their investigation to locate Ms.
Razan Zaitouneh.
The
Observatory fears that Messrs. Wa’el Hammada and Abd al-Rahman Hammada are kept
in a secret location in order to force Ms. Razan Zaitouneh to surrender. The Observatory is deeply concerned
by Messrs. Wa’el Hammada and Abd al-Rahman Hammada’s incommunicado detention,
which seem to merely aim at sanctioning Ms. Razan Zaitouneh’s human rights activities, and fears
for their physical and psychological integrity amid the routine acts of
violence, including torture and ill-treatment, committed against those who are
considered to support the social protest movement.
The
Observatory therefore calls upon the Syrian authorities to take prompt action
in order to disclose Messrs. Wa’el Hammada and Abd al-Rahman Hammada’s
whereabouts and release them immediately. The Observatory further calls
upon the Syrian authorities to stop the systematic repression of all human
rights defenders in the country.
Actions requested:
Please write to the Syrian authorities, urging them to:
i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and
psychological integrity of Ms. Razan Zaitouneh and Messrs. Wa’el Hammada and Abd al-Rahman
Hammada, as well as of all human rights defenders in Syria;
ii. Take prompt action in order to disclose the whereabouts
of Messrs. Wa’el Hammada and
Abd al-Rahman Hammada and immediate and unconditionally release them, as
it seems to merely aim at sanctioning Ms. Razan Zaitouneh’s human rights
activities;
iii. Put an end to any acts of harassment and intimidation
against all human rights defenders in Syria;
iv. Conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration on
Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations
on December 9, 1998, especially:
– its
Article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in
association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and
realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and
international levels”;
– its
Article 6 (b) and (c), which states that “everyone has the right, individually
and in association with others […] as provided for in human rights and other
applicable international instruments, freely to publish, impart or disseminate
to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental
freedoms and […] to study, discuss, form and hold opinions on the observance,
both in law and in practice, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and,
through these and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to those
matters”;
– and
its Article 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take all necessary
measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone,
individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats,
retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other
arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the
rights referred to in the present Declaration”;
v. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards
and international instruments ratified by the Syrian Arab Republic.
Addresses:
· President, His Excellency Bashar al-Assad, Presidential
Palace, al Rashid Street, Damascus, Syria Arab Republic, Fax: +963 11 332 3410
· Minister of Defence, His Excellency General, Ali Habib
Mahmud, Ministry of Defence, O mayyad Square, Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic,
Fax: +963 11 223 7842
· Minister of Justice, His Excellency Mr. Tayzeer Qala
Awwad, Ministry of Justice, Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic, Fax: +963 11 666
2460
· Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Wallid
Mu’allim, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, al-Rashid Street, Damascus, Syrian Arab
Republic, Fax: +963 11 332 7620
· Ambassador Bashar
Ja’afari, Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to UN in Geneva,
72 rue de Lausanne, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 738 42 75, Email: mission.syria@ties.itu.int
· Embassy of the Syrian Arab Republic in Brussels, 1 avenue
F.D. Roosevelt, 1050 Brussels, Belgium, Tel: +32 2 554 19 22; Fax: +32 2 648 14
85
Please also write to the diplomatic mission or embassy of
the Syrian Arabic Republic in your respective country.
Paris-Geneva, June 3, 2011
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code
of this appeal in your reply.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
- E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
- Tel
and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 55 18 80 - Tel
and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29