{"id":1685,"date":"2014-05-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/?p=1685","title":{"rendered":"Call for the immediate release of disappeared human rights lawyer Khalil Ma\u2019touq"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nOver one and a half years after the disappearance of renowned Syrian human rights
\nlawyer Khalil Ma’touq<\/strong>, the undersigned organizations are reiterating their call on the
\nSyrian authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally.\n<\/p>\n

\n \n<\/p>\n

\nKhalil Ma’touq, the director of the Syrian Centre for Legal Studies and Research,
\ndisappeared on 2 October 2012, along with his colleague Mohammed Thatha, as they
\nwere on their way to work in the capital Damascus. It is believed they were detained
\nat a government security checkpoint.\n<\/p>\n

\n \n<\/p>\n

\nA number of unofficial tip-offs have indicated that Khalil Ma’touq has been held in
\ndifferent detention centres in Damascus, but his and Mohammed Thatha’s fate and
\nwhereabouts remain unknown. Despite repeated requests from family and lawyers,
\nthe Syrian authorities continue to deny they are in custody, placing them at particular
\nrisk of torture or other ill-treatment and extrajudicial execution.\n<\/p>\n

\n \n<\/p>\n

\nEnforced disappearances are crimes under international law and their use in Syria has
\nbeen strongly condemned by the UN Security Council, which in their resolution of
\nFebruary 2014 also demanded “the immediate end of these practices and the release
\nof all arbitrarily detained persons.”\n<\/p>\n

\n \n<\/p>\n

\nThe fact that there is no information regarding the current situation of Khalil Ma’touq
\nis a cause of immense concern to his family and to the undersigned organizations, in
\nparticular as unofficial information has indicated he is in extremely poor health. He
\nsuffers from advanced lung disease and has severe breathing difficulties.\n<\/p>\n

\n \n<\/p>\n

\n2
\nThe undersigned organizations consider both men to have been subjected to enforced
\ndisappearance. They believe that Khalil Ma’touq was targeted because of his
\nlegitimate and peaceful work in defence of human rights and that Mohamed Thatha’s
\ndisappearance seems to be linked to his work with the human rights lawyer.
\nThe undersigned organizations call on the Syrian authorities to immediately and
\nunconditionally release Khalil Ma’touq. Mohammed Thatha should also similarly be
\nreleased if, as it appears, he has been detained for his work in the field of human
\nrights or for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression.\n<\/p>\n

\n \n<\/p>\n

\nThe organizations also call on the member states of the UN Security Council to
\nensure the effective implementation of resolution 2139, including by immediately
\nemploying all relevant mechanisms to ensure that all arbitrarily detained persons are
\nreleased.\n<\/p>\n

\n \n<\/p>\n

\nThe co-signed organizations are:<\/strong>
\nAmnesty International
\nArabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI)
\nAssyrian Human Rights Network
\nBahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR)
\nBahrain Youth Society for Human Rights ( BYSHR )
\nCairo Institute for Human rights Studies (CIHRS)
\nCenter for Democracy and Civil Rights in Syria
\nCham Center for Democratic and Human Rights Studies
\nCIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
\nDamascus Center for Human Rights Studies (DCHRS)
\nEl-Nadim Center for Psychological Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence
\nEuro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN)
\nFront Line Defenders
\nGulf Centre for Human rights (GCHR)
\nHumanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (Hivos)
\nHuman Rights Committee of the Law Society
\nInternational Civil Society Action Network (ICAN)
\nInternational Media Support (IMS)
\nIraqi Institute for Development
\nIraqi Journalists Rights Defense Association (IJRDA)
\nKvinna till Kvinna
\nIraqi Network for Social Media
\nLawyers for Lawyers (L4L)
\nLualua Centre for Human Rights
\nObservatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, International Federation
\nfor Human Rights (FIDH)
\nObservatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, the World Organisation
\nAgainst Torture (OMCT)
\nPalestinian League for Human Rights – Syria
\nPAX (The Netherlands)
\nPEN International
\nSamir Kassir Foundation – SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom
\nSyrian Center for Legal Studies and Research
\nSyrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM)
\n3
\nSyrian Network for Human Rights
\nTunisian Initiative for Freedom of Expression
\nViolation Documentation Center in Syria (VDC)
\nYemen Organization for Defending Rights & Democratic Freedoms\n<\/p>\n

\n \n<\/p>\n

\nSource URL:
\n http:\/\/gc4hr.org\/news\/view\/650<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over one and a half years after the disappearance of renowned Syrian human rights
\nlawyer Khalil Ma’touq, the undersigned organizations are reiterating their call on the
\nSyrian authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1685\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}