{"id":331,"date":"2011-08-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-21T00:00:00","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=331","title":{"rendered":"Syrian authorities target prominent dissident and teenage son"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nSyrian authorities target prominent dissident
\nand teenage son<\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nhttp:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/news-and-updates\/syrian-authorities-target-prominent-dissident-and-teenage-son-2011-08-19<\/a><\/span> <\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nSyrian
\nauthorities are feared to be torturing a prominent dissident and his teenage son
\nfor their involvement in peaceful protests, their lawyer has told Amnesty
\nInternational.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nWalid al-Bunni
\nhas been detained incommunicado since he was arrested from his Damascus hiding
\nplace on 6 August along with his 18-year-old son Mu’ayad, who is not believed
\nto have taken part in the demonstrations.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n"I’m
\nvery worried that they may be keeping Mu’ayad in prison with his dad just to
\ncause Walid pain by watching his son being tortured," Walid’s lawyer told
\nAmnesty International. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nWalid al-Bunni,
\naged 46, is one of hundreds of Syrian activists detained amid the government’s
\nbloody crackdown on protesters who have been calling for reforms since March.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn
\noutspoken and fearless critic of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Walid al-Bunni
\nhas paid a steep price for speaking out for democracy and political reforms. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nHaving been
\nimprisoned twice before, he and two of his sons went into hiding on 5 May 2011
\nafter security forces broke down the front door of his flat.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n"Mu’ayad
\nis the apple of his dad’s eye, I don’t believe he took part in the
\nprotests," said the lawyer.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nWalid al-Bunni
\nhas been missing since he was arrested by armed men believed to be members of
\nSyria’s Political Security forces along with his two sons, Iyad and Mu’ayad.Cool<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nIyad, aged
\n19, was later released. The whereabouts of his brother and father have not been
\ndisclosed by the Syrian authorities, while the family is too afraid to ask the
\nauthorities for information<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nWalid
\na-Bunni has served lengthy prison sentences twice before.  <\/span>He spent five years in jail from 2001 until
\n2006 for his activities during the "Damascus Spring", a period
\nfollowing President al-Assad’s rise to power.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe was also
\njailed for two and a half years from December 2007 to 16 June 2010 for his
\ninvolvement in a coalition of opposition groups calling for peaceful reform and
\nrespect for human rights.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAmnesty
\nInternational spoke to an emotional Walid al-Bunni on 22 June 2010, shortly
\nafter his most recent release from detention.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n"During
\nmy imprisonment I sometimes felt melancholy for not being present for my
\nchildren when they need me," he said tearfully. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n"But
\nthen I remember that I am man of a cause and that our people should live a
\ndignified and free life.” <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nMore than
\n1,800 people have been killed since mass protests began in mid-March, according
\nto a list of names compiled by Amnesty International. Many of them were
\nreportedly killed by live ammunition used by the Syrian army and security
\nforces during generally peaceful protests. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Syrian
\nauthorities have arrested thousands and held many incommunicado at unknown
\nlocations where torture and other ill-treatment are reported to be rife.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAmnesty
\nInternational has called for the immediate release of Walid al-Bunni and Mu’ayad
\nal-Bunni as they are prisoners of conscience,. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nWalid
\nal-Bunni is detained solely for exercising his rights to freedom of expression,
\nassociation and assembly, while .Mu’ayad al-Bunni appears to be detained solely
\nto put pressure on his father. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

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

<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\nSyrian
\nauthorities are feared to be torturing a prominent dissident and his teenage son
\nfor their involvement in peaceful protests, their lawyer has told Amnesty
\nInternational.Walid al-Bunni
\nhas been detained incommunicado since he was arrested from his Damascus hiding
\nplace on 6 August along with his 18-year-old son Mu’ayad, who is not believed
\nto have taken part in the demonstrations.<\/span><\/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-331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331","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=331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}