{"id":259,"date":"2011-05-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-21T00:00:00","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=259","title":{"rendered":"SYRIAN ACTIVIST HELD INCOMMUNICADO"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nURGENT ACTION<\/strong>
\nSYRIAN ACTIVIST HELD INCOMMUNICADO<\/strong>
\nSyrian civil society activist Amjad Baiazy has been held incommunicado since
\nhis arrest at Syria’s Damascus International Airport on 12 May. Amnesty
\nInternational believes that he may be a prisoner of conscience, detained solely
\nfor the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression. He is at
\nserious risk of torture and other ill-treatment. <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nAmjad Baiazy<\/strong>, a Syrian citizen, was arrested while
\nabout to board a flight to the United Kingdom, where he formerly studied and
\nwas planning to reside. His family in Syria have had no contact with him since
\nhis arrest but it appears that he is being detained by State Security, a branch
\nof the Syrian security police, in Damascus. The authorities have disclosed no
\nreason for his arrest, as far as Amnesty International is aware, and no charges
\nare known to have been brought against him.\n<\/p>\n

\nAmjad Baiazy’s arrest and detention is probably linked to
\nthe current violent government clampdown on public protests which has seen
\nhundreds of people killed by the security forces since mid-March. The
\nauthorities have carried out mass arrests of real and suspected opponents,
\nprotestors and dissidents, hundreds of whom remain detained incommunicado and
\nhave been subjected to enforced disappearances. Many have reported torture and
\nother ill-treatment after their release, heightening concerns for Amjad
\nBaiazy’s safety.\n<\/p>\n

\nAmjad Baiazy’s civil society activities included working
\nwith Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) in 2007 and acting as an international
\nobserver and interpreter for the International Mission for Iraqi Elections
\n(IMIE) in 2005 for elections to Iraq’s Council of Representatives.\n<\/p>\n

\nPLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Arabic, English, French or
\nyour own language:<\/strong>
\nn        Expressing concern at the arrest and incommunicado
\ndetention of Amjad Baiazy and urging his immediate and unconditional release if
\nhe is a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful exercise of
\nfreedom of expression or other human rights;
\nn        Asking for confirmation of his place of detention,
\nthe reason for his arrest and his legal status, and calling for him to be fully
\nprotected against torture or other ill-treatment;
\nn        Urging the Syrian authorities to take immediate
\nsteps to name and disclose the whereabouts of all political detainees and to
\ngive them immediate access to lawyers of their choosing and their families and any
\nmedical treatment they need, and to safeguard them from torture and other
\nill-treatment. <\/p>\n

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 4 JULY 2011 TO:<\/strong>
\nPresident<\/u>
\nBashar al-Assad        
\nPresidential Palace
\nal-Rashid Street        
\nDamascus, Syrian Arab Republic        
\nFax: +963 11 332 3410
\nSalutation: Your Excellency<\/strong> <\/p>\n

\nMinister of Interior<\/u>
\nMajor General Mohamed Ibrahim al-Sha’aar        
\nMinistry of Interior
\n‘Abd al-Rahman Shahbandar Street        
\nDamascus, Syrian Arab Republic
\nFax: +963 11 222 3428
\nSalutation: Your Excellency<\/strong> <\/p>\n

And copies to:<\/strong>
\nMinister of Foreign Affairs<\/u>
\nWalid al-Mu’allim        
\nMinistry of Foreign Affairs
\nal-Rashid Street
\nDamascus, Syrian Arab Republic        
\nFax: +963 11 214 6251
\nSalutation: Your Excellency <\/strong><\/p>\n

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. <\/strong>Please
\ncheck with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
\nURGENT ACTION<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nSYRIAN ACTIVIST HELD INCOMMUNICADO<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nAdditional Information<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Syrian army and security forces have been carrying out
\nmass arrests since mid-March, when popular protests called for political reform
\nand increasingly for the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, to step down. The
\narrests particularly took place in the cities and towns that witnessed the height
\nof popular protests. In the coastal city of Banias for example, all males above
\nthe age of 15 were rounded up. The arrests have also targeted people perceived
\nto have organized or openly supported those protests, whether orally in public
\ngatherings, in the media, on the internet or elsewhere. They include political
\nand human rights activists, mosque imams and journalists.  These mass
\narrests have forced a number of political and human rights activists to go into
\nhiding.\n<\/p>\n

\nAmnesty International believes that many of those detained
\nare likely to be prisoners of conscience, held merely for exercising their
\nrights to freedom of expression and association by peacefully supporting or
\ntaking part in protests. For more information on the mass arrests, see the recent
\nUrgent Action:\n<\/p>\n

\nhttp:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/library\/info\/MDE24\/019\/2011\/en<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nUA: 151\/11 Index: MDE 24\/021\/2011 Issue Date: 23 May 2011
\n————————————-
\nEast Mediterranean Team
\nAmnesty International, International Secretariat
\nPeter Benenson House, 1 Easton Street
\nLondon WC1X 0DW
\nUnited Kingdom
\nE-mail: Eastmed@amnesty.org<\/a>
\nTel:       +44 (0)20 7413 5500
\nFax:      +44 (0)20 7413 5719\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SYRIAN ACTIVIST HELD INCOMMUNICADO
\nSyrian civil society activist Amjad Baiazy has been held incommunicado since
\nhis arrest at Syria’s Damascus International Airport on 12 May. Amnesty
\nInternational believes that he may be a prisoner of conscience, detained solely
\nfor the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression. He is at
\nserious risk of torture and other ill-treatment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}