{"id":1839,"date":"2014-09-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T00:00:00","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=1839","title":{"rendered":"Free Prominent Rights Defenders Verdict Scheduled in Charges Before Anti-Terrorism Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nThe Syrian government should immediately and unconditionally release the arbitrarily detained human rights defender Mazen Darwish<\/strong> and his colleagues Hani Al-Zitani<\/strong> and Hussein Ghareer<\/strong>, 79 organizations said today. The Syrian Anti-Terrorism Court is expected to issue its verdict on September 24, 2014 in their trial for “publicizing terrorist acts.”\n<\/p>\n

\nDarwish is the director of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM). Syrian Air Force Intelligence arrested the three men and other colleagues during a raid on the group’s office, in Damascus on February 16, 2012. The three men have been on trial before the Anti-Terrorism Court on charges of “publicizing terrorist acts” under article 8 of the country’s 2012 Anti-Terrorism Law. The charges are based on their peaceful activities that include monitoring and publishing information about human rights abuses in Syria.\n<\/p>\n

\n“The trial against Mazen Darwish and his colleagues is nothing more than a sham, and a deep miscarriage of justice,” a spokesperson for the organizations said. “These human rights advocates should be immediately set free.”\n<\/p>\n

\nThe judge has postponed the trial several times because security forces have failed to provide the information requested by the court. Nevertheless, the groups understand from a source who is closely monitoring the court proceedings that the judge is expected to issue a verdict in the trial when it resumes in September.\n<\/p>\n

\nFormer detainees who had been held with the men said that security forces subjected Mazen Darwish and his colleagues to torture and other ill-treatment. Despite these credible reports, there has been no investigation into the abuses.\n<\/p>\n

\nA May 15, 2013 UN General Assembly resolution included a demand for the immediate release of the three men. On January 2014, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) found that the three had been arbitrarily deprived of their liberty due to their human rights activities and called for their immediate release. The United Nations Security Council demanded the release of all arbitrarily detained people in Syria in its resolution 2139, adopted on February 22, 2014.\n<\/p>\n

\nOn June 9, the government announced an amnesty, including for the charges that Darwish and the others face. They have not been freed, however.\n<\/p>\n

\nAccording to lawyer working with political detainees who has been monitoring the implementation of the amnesty, in the case of some detainees who should benefit from the amnesty, judges have sent the files back to the public prosecutor with a request to change the charges against them to charges that are not covered by the amnesty.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Anti-Terrorism Court judge overseeing the trial of the three men should comply with the amnesty and refrain from sending their case back to the prosecutor for new charges, the organizations said. The three should be released immediately, as called for by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.\n<\/p>\n

\n“The families of SCM members hoped that their relatives would be released under the amnesty,” the spokesperson said. “But the Syrian authorities have once again proven that they are not capable of abiding by even their own publicly proclaimed amnesty. Every day behind bars for peaceful activists, who should never have been jailed in the first place, is another day of injustice for them and their families.”\n<\/p>\n

\nThe 79 undersigned organizations call for the immediate and unconditional release of Mazen Darwish and his colleagues, as well as all other activists arbitrarily held solely for peaceful political activism and human rights, humanitarian and media work.\n<\/p>\n

\nCo-signing organizations in alphabetical order:<\/strong>
\nAction by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT)
\nAlgerian League for the Defense of Human Rights
\nAl-Sham Center for Democratic Studies and Human Rights – Syria
\nAMAN NETWORK for Rehabilitation and defending Human Rights
\nAmnesty International
\nArab-European Center Of Human Rights And International Law (AECHRIL)
\nArab Foundation for Development and Citizenship
\nArabic Network For Human Rights Information
\nArab Working Group for Media Monitoring (AWG-MM)
\nArticle 19
\nAssyrian Human Rights Network
\nBahrain Centre For Human Rights (BCHR)
\nBahrain Youth Society for Human Rights
\nCairo Center for Development and Human Rights
\nCairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
\nCanadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE)
\nCIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
\nCommittee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
\nDamascus Center for Human Rights Studies
\nEgyptian Initiative for Personal Rights
\nEl Nadim Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence – Egypt
\nEuro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) 
\nEuropean-Bahraini Organisation for Human Rights (EBOHR)
\nForum of Cooperation for Human Development" in France
\nFree Press Unlimited
\nFront Line Defenders
\nGulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
\nGulf Forum for civil society organizations
\nHumanistic Institute for Development Cooperation (HIVOS)
\nHuman Rights First Society – Saudi Arabia 
\nHuman Rights Watch (HRW)
\nIndependent Commission for Human Rights in Kurdistan – Iraq
\nInitiative for Freedom of Expression – Turkey
\nInstitute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)
\nInternational Centre for Justice and Human Rights (ICJHR) – Geneva
\nInternational Center for Supporting Rights and Freedoms (ICSRF)
\nInternational Civil Society Action Network (ICAN)
\nInternational Federation for Human Rights – in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (FIDH)
\nInternational Media Support (IMS)
\nInternational Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
\nIraqi Journalists Rights Defence Association (IJRDA)
\nIraqi Network for Social Media (INSM)
\nJustice for Iran (JFI)
\nKurdish Organization for Human Rights in Syria (DAD)
\nKvinna till Kvinna Foundation
\nLawyers for Lawyers (L4L)
\nLebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH)
\nLualua Center for human Rights (LCHR)
\nMadad Foundation for Human Rights
\nMadani Organisation
\nMaharat Foundation
\nMenapolis (Menapolis.net)
\nPalestinian League for Human Rights – Syria
\nPAX
\nPEN International
\nRafto Foundation for Human Rights
\nRegional Free Council to Support Human Rights
\nReporters Without Borders (RSF)
\nSamir Kassir Foundation
\nSaudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA)
\nSisters Arab Forum for Human Rights (Yemen)
\nSudanese Development Initiative (SUDIA)
\nSyrian Center for Human Rights
\nSyrian Centre for Legal Studies and Research
\nSyrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM)
\nSyrian Civil Coalition
\nSyrian Committee for Human Rights
\nSyrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR)
\nSyrian Organization for Human Rights (SAWASIA)
\nSyrian Women’s Network
\nTogether For Human Rights
\nTunisian Initiative for Freedom of Expression
\nVivarta – London
\nViolations Documentation Center (VDC)
\nWomen’s Studies Centre – Palestine
\nWorld Organisation Against Torture – in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
\nYemen organization for Defending Rights & democratic Freedoms
\nYemeni Organization for the Defense of Human Rights and Democratic Freedoms \/ Aden – Yemen
\nZarga Organization for Rural Development\n<\/p>\n

\nSource URL:
\nhttp:\/\/gc4hr.org\/news\/view\/732<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Syrian government should immediately and unconditionally release the arbitrarily detained human rights defender Mazen Darwish and his colleagues Hani Al-Zitani and Hussein Ghareer, 79 organizations said today. The Syrian Anti-Terrorism Court is expected to issue its verdict on September 24, 2014 in their trial for “publicizing terrorist acts.”<\/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-1839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839","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=1839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}