PRESS
RELEASE

THE OBSERVATORY FOR THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS – EMHRN  

SYRIA: Arrest and incommunicado detention of the President of the Syrian League for Human Rights 

Paris-Geneva,
August 12, 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), and the Euro-Mediterranean Human
Rights Network (EMHRN) vehemently condemn the arrest and incommunicado detention
of prominent Syrian human rights defender Abdel Karim Rihaoui, amid ongoing
harsh and general repression in the country.

On August
11, 2011, Mr. Abdel Karim Rihaoui, President of the Syrian League for
Human Rights, was arrested by a patrol of the Air Intelligence, at the Havana
Cafe in downtown Damascus, where he was meeting with a journalist. His
whereabouts have remained unknown since then.

The
Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and the EMHRN firmly
condemn the incommunicado detention of Mr. Abdel Karim Rihaoui, and strongly
fear that his arbitrary arrest merely aims at sanctioning his human rights
activities, and in particular his mobilisation on cases of political prisoners.

"This
arrest provides further evidence of the continued repression of dissenting
voices in Syria. We call upon the Syrian authorities to guarantee the physical
and psychological integrity of Mr. Rihaoui, to disclose his whereabouts and to
release him immediately and unconditionally", FIDH President Souhayr
Belhassen said today.

"We
are all the more concerned that Mr. Abdel Karim Rihaoui’s arrest takes place
amid the current violent repression of peaceful protests in the country, in the
framework of which several human rights defenders remain detained today, in conditions
of detention that often do not respect their human dignity. Accordingly, we
call upon the Syrian authorities to stop the systematic repression of all human
rights defenders in the country”, added Eric Sottas, OMCT Secretary General.

Kamel
Jendoubi, EMHRN President, said “we denounce the use of arbitrary detention and
enforced disappearance of human rights defenders and peaceful activists, which
appears to be part of a deliberate strategy aimed at silencing critics on gross
human rights abuses”. 

The
Observatory and the EMHRN urge the Syrian authorities to guarantee in all
circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of people detained and
to release Mr. Abdel Karim Rihaoui immediately and unconditionally, in
conformity with the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human
Rights Defenders.

For
further information, please contact:

·        
FIDH: Karine Appy, Arthur Manet: + 33 1 43 55 25 18

·        
OMCT: Delphine Reculeau: + 41 22 809 49 39

·         EMHRN: Shaimaa Abu Elkheir: +20
101077207