http:\/\/amnesty.org\/en\/library\/info\/MDE24\/041\/2011\/en<\/a><\/p>\n\nURGENT ACTION\n<\/p>\n
\n FEARS FOR PROTESTERS AFTER DEATH IN CUSTODY\n<\/p>\n
\n Additional Information\n<\/p>\n
\n Since the beginning of the popular protests in mid-March,
\n the Syrian security forces have arrested thousands of people across the
\n country. Amnesty International has received numerous accounts of detainees
\n being tortured or otherwise ill-treated as well as reports of dozens of deaths
\n in custody, in many cases as an apparent result of such abuses.\n<\/p>\n
\n According to human rights activists, Air Force Intelligence
\n oversees arrests in Daraya, a suburb of Damascus. Along with the other Syrian
\n intelligence services, it regularly detains people suspected of opposing the
\n government and holds them incommunicado for lengthy periods in detention
\n centres that are notorious for torture and other ill-treatment.\n<\/p>\n
\n Activists from Daraya told Amnesty International that all of
\n those involved in organizing protests went into hiding soon after the outbreak
\n of the popular protests in mid-March, and only go out in public to take part in
\n the protests.\n<\/p>\n
\n Khairo al-Dabbas, aged 52, was arrested by individuals
\n believed to be members of Air Force Intelligence on 2 July from a friend’s home
\n in Daraya. His family told Amnesty International that during his arrest his
\n friend was told that he was being detained for financing the protests in
\n Daraya. They said he would only be released when his son, 21-year-old Islam
\n al-Dabbas, who was at that time in hiding, handed himself over and signed a
\n pledge not to participate in future demonstrations. Islam al-Dabbas is one of
\n the organizers of protests in Daraya, which have, by all accounts, been
\n overwhelmingly peaceful, and is renowned for presenting water bottles with
\n flowers to the army in an attempt to deter them from attacking protesters.\n<\/p>\n
\n On 22 July individuals believed to be members of Air Force
\n Intelligence arrested Islam al-Dabbas, his cousin ‘Alaa al-Dabbas, aged 24, and
\n ‘Abd al-Sattar al-Kholani, aged 32. According to activists from Daraya, Islam
\n and ‘Alaa al-Dabbas were arrested during a protest. ‘Abd al-Sattar al-Kholani
\n was arrested apparently because he refused to inform Air Force Intelligence
\n where his brother Majd al-Din al- Kholani, aged 22, another protest organizer
\n in Daraya, was hiding. Majd al-Din al-Kholani was arrested on 8 August, also,
\n it seems, by Air Force Intelligence.\n<\/p>\n
\n Other activists forced into hiding in April include brothers
\n Yahya and Ma’an Shurbaji, Mohamed Tayseer Khoulani, Mazen Zyadeh and Ghayath
\n Mattar, all of whom were arrested on 6 September, allegedly also by Air Force
\n Intelligence. Ghayath Mattar’s body was returned to his family four days later.
\n The official reason given for his death was that he was shot and killed by
\n ”armed gangs”, but, according to witnesses and video footage seen by Amnesty
\n International, his body showed signs of beatings and other ill-treatment. For
\n further information, please refer to Urgent Action: Syrian activists held
\n incommunicado at risk (http:\/\/amnesty.org\/en\/library\/info\/MDE24\/050\/2011\/en)
\n and Urgent Action: Further information: Death in custody of Syrian activist
\n (http:\/\/amnesty.org\/en\/library\/info\/MDE24\/052\/2011\/en).\n<\/p>\n
\n Name: Khairo al-Dabbas, Islam al-Dabbas, ‘Alaa al-Dabbas,
\n ‘Abd al-Sattar al-Kholani, Majd al-Din al-Kholani\n<\/p>\n
\n Gender m\/f: All Male\n<\/p>\n
Further information on UA: 250\/11 Index: MDE 24\/054\/2011
\nIssue Date: 14 September 2011 <\/p>\n
————————————- <\/p>\n
\n East Mediterranean Team\n<\/p>\n
\n Amnesty International, International Secretariat\n<\/p>\n
\nPeter Benenson House, 1 Easton Street\n<\/p>\n
\nLondon WC1X 0DW\n<\/p>\n
\nUnited Kingdom\n<\/p>\n
\nE-mail: Eastmed@amnesty.org\n<\/p>\n
\nTel: <\/span>+44 (0)20
\n7413 5500\n<\/p>\n\nFax: <\/span>+44 (0)20
\n7413 5719\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nURGENT ACTION<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\nDate: 14 September 2011<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\nFive men arrested reportedly for their involvement with
\npopular protests in Syria remain detained incommunicado after being arrested in
\nJuly and August. Fears for the men have heightened following reports that a
\npro-reform activist from the same town was killed while in the custody of the
\nsecurity forces.<\/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-354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354","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=354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}