{"id":367,"date":"2011-10-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-10-04T00:00:00","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=367","title":{"rendered":"Health fears for Syrian Activist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<strong>URGENT ACTION<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\n  One of Anas al-Shogre&rsquo;s brothers, who is living outside  Syria, has told Amnesty International that the family have learnt from an  apparently reliable source that Anas al-Shogre is currently held at the State  Security branch in Damascus, that he is unwell and &ldquo;has lost a lot of weight&rdquo;.  This has heightened concern that he may have been subjected to torture and  other ill-treatment. The source reportedly provided no further information. <\/p>\n<p>\nAnas al-Shogre, a 23-year old student, was arrested during a  security forces operation that began in Banias on 7 May. He was in hiding at  the time. The Syrian authorities have not disclosed the reason for his arrest  or where he is being held although, according to his brother, his family have  made relentless efforts to obtain information about him. <\/p>\n<p>\nAnas al-Shogre&rsquo;s family and local human rights activists  believe that his arrest is related to his involvement in calling for and  leading popular protests in the city of Banias, and for informing the media,  including the BBC&rsquo;s Arabic Service, about human rights violations committed in  the city by Syrian security forces. Amnesty International believes that Anas  al-Shogre may be a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for peacefully  exercising his rights to freedom of expression and assembly, and is concerned  that he is being held in conditions that amount to enforced disappearance.&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>\n  Please write immediately in Arabic, French, English or your  own language:\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span> <\/span>Express concern that Anas  al-Shogre has been held incommunicado since May in conditions that amount to  enforced disappearance, and that he is reported to be in poor health possibly  as a result of torture or other ill-treatment;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Call for Anas al-Shogre to  be immediately and unconditionally released, if he is a prisoner of conscience  held solely for peacefully exercising his rights to freedom of expression and  assembly by calling for and leading protests in Banias, or else released  without further delay unless he is facing recognizable criminal charges and  will receive a fair trial in conformity with international standards for fair  trial; <\/li>\n<li><span> <\/span>Urge the Syrian authorities  to immediately disclose the whereabouts of Anas al-Shogre and all other detainees,  end the use of enforced disappearances, safeguard all detainees from torture or  other ill-treatment and allow them immediate access to lawyers of their  choosing, to their families and to any medical treatment they require. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\nPLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 15 NOVEMBER 2011 TO:<\/p>\n<p>President<br \/>\nBashar al-Assad&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br \/>\nPresidential Palace<br \/>\nal-Rashid Street&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br \/>\nDamascus, Syrian Arab Republic<br \/>\nFax: +963 11 332 3410<br \/>\nSalutation: Your Excellency<br \/>\nMinister of Foreign Affairs<br \/>\nWalid al-Mu&rsquo;allim&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br \/>\nMinistry of Foreign Affairs<br \/>\nal-Rashid Street<br \/>\nDamascus, Syrian Arab Republic&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br \/>\nFax: +963 11 214 6251<br \/>\nSalutation: Your Excellency\n<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\nAlso send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to  your country. Please insert local diplomatic addresses below:<\/p>\n<p>\n  Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email  Email address Salutation Salutation&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp; <br \/>\n  Please check with your section office if sending appeals  after the above date. This is the first update of UA 209\/11. Further  information: <a href=\"http:\/\/amnesty.org\/en\/library\/info\/MDE24\/030\/2011\/en\">http:\/\/amnesty.org\/en\/library\/info\/MDE24\/030\/2011\/en<\/a><\/p>\n<p>  URGENT ACTION<br \/>\n  HEALTH FEARS FOR SYRIAN ACTIVIST<br \/>\n  ADDITIONAL INFORMATION<br \/>\n  Since mid-March when popular protests calling for political  reform started to spread nationwide, the Syrian authorities have responded in a  brutal manner in their efforts to suppress them. The security forces have  repeatedly used grossly excessive force, using snipers to shoot into crowds of  peaceful protesters and deploying army tanks to shell residential areas. They  have sought to justify such force on the pretext that the government is under  attack by armed gangs.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nAmnesty International has obtained the names of more than  2,200 people reported to have died or been killed during or in connection with  the protests since mid-March. Many are believed to have been shot by security  forces using live ammunition while participating in peaceful protests or  attending funerals of people killed in earlier protests. Thousands of other  people have been arrested, with many held incommunicado at unknown locations at  which torture and other ill-treatment are reported to be rife. The arrests have  targeted people perceived to have organized or openly supported the protests,  whether orally in public gatherings, in the media, on the internet or  elsewhere. They include political and human rights activists, mosque imams and  journalists. The mass arrests and rampant torture have also forced a number of  political and human rights activists to go into hiding. <\/p>\n<p>\nAnother shocking feature of the government&rsquo;s bloody  crackdown on the protests is the sharp rise in number of reported deaths in  custody possibly due to torture. Amnesty International has recorded over 100  reported deaths in custody since the protests began.<\/p>\n<p>\n  Name: Anas al-Shogre <\/p>\n<p>\n  Gender m\/f: Male\n<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\n<strong>URGENT ACTION<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>\nSyrian activist, Anas al-Shogre, who has been detained  incommunicado since May, apparently for calling for and leading protests in the  coastal city of Banias, is now believed to be held at a State Security branch  in the capital Damascus. Reports suggest that he is in poor health and may have  been subjected to torture or 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-367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367","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=367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}