\nURGENT ACTION\n<\/p>\n
\nSYRIAN BROTHERS HELD BY INTELLIGENCE AGENCY<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \nSyrian brothers ‘Abd al-Rahman Hammada and Wa’el Hammada, \nWa’el Hammada’s wife, Razan Zaitouneh, a prominent human \n“Air Force Security has three branches in Damascus; I do not \n‘Abd al-Rahman Hammada and Wa’el Hammada were arrested on 30 \nAmnesty International believes that both men are prisoners \nPLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Arabic, English, French or your \n– \n– \n– \n \n<\/p>\n \nPLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 22 JULY 2011 TO:\n<\/p>\n \n <\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nPresident\n<\/p>\n \nBashar al-Assad <\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nPresidential Palace\n<\/p>\n \nal-Rashid Street <\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nDamascus, Syrian Arab Republic <\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nFax: +963 11 332 3410\n<\/p>\n \nSalutation: Your Excellency\n<\/p>\n \nMinister of Foreign Affairs\n<\/p>\n \nWalid al-Mu’allim <\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nMinistry of Foreign Affairs\n<\/p>\n \nal-Rashid Street\n<\/p>\n \nDamascus, Syrian Arab Republic <\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nFax: +963 11 214 6251\n<\/p>\n \nSalutation: Your Excellency\n<\/p>\n \nAlso send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to \nURGENT ACTION\n<\/p>\n \nSYRIAN BROTHERS HELD BY INTELLIGENCE AGENCY\n<\/p>\n \nADDITIONAL INFORMATION\n<\/p>\n \nSince popular protests calling for political reform in Syria \nThe arrests have targeted people perceived to have organized \nThe Air Force Security is one of the four main intelligence \nUA: 149\/11 Index: MDE 24\/023\/2011 Issue Date: 10 June 2011<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \nSYRIAN BROTHERS HELD BY INTELLIGENCE AGENCY<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \nSyrian brothers ‘Abd al-Rahman Hammada and Wa’el Hammada,
\nwho have been detained since 30 April and 12 May respectively, are now believed
\nto be held incommunicado at one of the three Air Force Security branches in the
\ncapital Damascus. Reports suggest that they have been tortured or otherwise
\nill-treated.\n<\/p>\n
\nrights activist who has been in hiding since April , told Amnesty International
\ntoday that she learned through reliable sources that her husband and his
\nbrother ‘Abd al-Rahman Hammada are both held in Damascus by the Air Force
\nSecurity, an intelligence agency.\n<\/p>\n
\nknow in which one Wa’el and ‘Abd al-Rahman are being held,” she said. “Some
\ntold me that both of them are being badly tortured, while others did not have
\ninformation about ‘Abd al-Rahman but said that they knew that Wa’el was
\ntortured in the first few days of his detention and that he was interrogated
\nthree times. I’ve been pressing for information about their wellbeing for some
\ntime, but only recently managed to get anywhere as people avoided telling me
\nthings so as not to upset me.”\n<\/p>\n
\nApril and 12 May respectively. To date, the Syrian authorities have not
\nrevealed why they are holding them. Amnesty International believes, however,
\nthat Abd al-Rahman Hammada was arrested to pressure Wa’el Hammada to hand
\nhimself over and that Wa’el Hammada is partly held because of his peaceful
\ninvolvement in the popular protests calling for political reform. In addition,
\nRazan Zaitouneh told Amnesty International that she heard that during his
\ninterrogation Wa’el Hammada was asked extensively about her human rights
\nactivities in relation to the current unrest.\n<\/p>\n
\nof conscience, with Wa’el Hammada detained for legitimately exercising his
\nrights to freedom of expression and association and his marriage to Razan
\nZaitouneh, and ‘Abd al-Rahman Hammada apparently detained solely on account of
\nhis family relationship with Wa’el Hammada.\n<\/p>\n
\nown language:\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Expressing concern at
\nreports that ‘Abd al-Rahman Hammada and Wa’el Hammada have been tortured or
\notherwise ill-treated and calling on the authorities to immediately ensure that
\nboth men are protected from further such treatment and that they have immediate
\naccess to legal counsel of their own choosing, and any medical attention they
\nmay require;\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Urging the authorities to
\ninvestigate the allegations of torture and to ensure that anyone found
\nresponsible is brought to justice;\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Calling on them to
\nimmediately and unconditionally release Wa’el Hammada and ‘Abd al-Rahman
\nHammada as Amnesty International considers them prisoners of conscience.\n<\/p>\n
\nyour country. Please check with your section office if sending appeals after
\nthe above date. This is the 1st update of UA 149\/11 (MDE 24\/020\/2011). Further
\ninformation: http:\/\/amnesty.org\/en\/library\/info\/MDE24\/020\/2011\/en<\/a>\n<\/p>\n
\nbegan to be violently repressed in mid-March, more than 1,000 people, including
\nchildren, are believed to have been killed. Many of them appear to have been
\nkilled as a result of the security forces using live ammunition on peaceful
\nprotests or during military operations by the Syrian army in a number of Syrian
\ncities. Thousands of others have been arrested by the Syrian army and security
\nforces, of whom hundreds remain detained incommunicado, despite a “general
\namnesty” that was issued on 31 May. Please see http:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/news-and-updates\/syria-must-release-all-prisoners-conscience-under-amnesty-2011-06-02<\/a>\n<\/p>\n
\nor openly supported the protests, whether orally in public gatherings, in the
\nmedia, on the internet or elsewhere. They include political and human rights
\nactivists, mosque imams and journalists. These mass arrests have forced a
\nnumber of political and human rights activists to go into hiding. Amnesty
\nInternational believes that many of those detained are likely to be prisoners
\nof conscience, held merely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression
\nand association by peacefully supporting or taking part in protests. Amnesty
\nInternational has documented accounts of torture and other ill-treatment
\nreported by some recently released detainees.\n<\/p>\n
\nagencies in Syria. They have a history of arbitrarily arresting and detaining
\npeople on suspicion of dissent and are widely reported to practise torture and
\nother ill-treatment with impunity.\n<\/p>\n
\nwho have been detained since 30 April and 12 May respectively, are now believed
\nto be held incommunicado at one of the three Air Force Security branches in the
\ncapital Damascus. Reports suggest that they have been tortured or otherwise
\nill-treated.<\/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-274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274","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=274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}