{"id":451,"date":"2012-02-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-02-02T00:00:00","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=451","title":{"rendered":"Fears for missing Syrian man: Hussam Ahmed al-Nabulsi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>URGENT ACTION <\/p>\n<p>Syrian farmer Hussam Ahmed al-Nabulsi was arrested by  members of the Syrian Military Intelligence on his way to work in the coastal  town of Banias, on 31 December 2011. He has been held incommunicado at an  unknown location since then . There are grave concerns that he is being  subjected to torture and other ill-treatment . <\/p>\n<p><strong>Hussam al-Nabulsi <\/strong>was reportedly arrested by Syrian  Military Intelligence officers on 31 December 2011, after he and another man  riding with him on a motorbike were shot at. An eyewitness said Hussam  al-Nabulsi appeared to be bleeding from the legs and was unable to run away;  the other man was not seen to move and his subsequent fate is unknown.  According to reports, Hussam al-Nabulsi was beaten and taken away by security  forces<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/verify_controversy?next_url=\/watch%3Ffeature%3Dplayer_embedded%26v%3DftmYz1rXupM\">Video Showing The Hussam al-Nabulsi being tortured<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ftmYz1rXupM\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Hussam al-Nabulsi&rsquo;s family has not been given any  information about his whereabouts or wellbeing, despite having inquired about  him through numerous channels, including the authorities. He is not thought to  have been charged with any offence. A family member outside Syria said Hussam  al-Nabulsi had not attended any of the pro-reform demonstrations, but he had  given food and money to families who had suffered as a result of the unrest. He  is at grave risk of torture or other ill-treatment, indicated in a video added  to the YouTube website, showing him with what appears to be blood and severe  bruising and swelling on his face, and an injury to his left arm, while almost  unable to speak. An independent forensic expert who viewed the video believes  the type and distribution of injuries indicates that they are the result of an  assault &#8211; a beating about the head and face. The date and source of this video  are unknown, but a relative of Hussam al-Nabulsi based abroad confirmed to the  organization that it was Hussam al-Nabulsi in the video. A former detainee also  told the organization that he believes the background is a room in the Military  Intelligence branch in Tartus, south of Banias, where he, too, was detained and  subjected to torture. The relative abroad also said that another person claims  to have seen Hussam al-Nabulsi in this location around ten days ago, around 20  January 2012.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Please write immediately in English, Arabic<\/strong> <strong>or  your own language: <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Urging the Syrian authorities to reveal the whereabouts of  Hussam al-Nabulsi, and ensure that he is provided with all necessary medical  care, is protected from torture or other ill-treatment and is given immediate  access to his family and lawyer;<br \/>\n  Asking for clarification of Hussam al-Nabulsi&#8217;s legal  status, and calling on the authorities to release him immediately, if he is not  to be charged with an internationally recognizable criminal offence and tried  according to international fair trial standards.<\/p>\n<p>Calling on the Syrian authorities to promptly set up an  independent and impartial investigation into the apparent torture or other  ill-treatment of Hussam al-Nabulsi, as shown in the video and to bring anyone  found responsible for abuses to justice. <\/p>\n<p><strong>PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 15 MARCH 2012<\/strong> <strong>TO<\/strong> <strong>:<\/strong> <br \/>\n  President <br \/>\n  Bashar al-Assad <br \/>\n  Presidential Palace, al-Rashid Street <br \/>\n  Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic <br \/>\n  Fax: +963 11 332 3410 (keep trying)<br \/>\n  <strong>Salutation: Your Excellency <\/strong><br \/>\n  Minister of Interior <br \/>\n  His Excellency Major General Mohamad Ibrahim al-Shaar,  Ministry of Interior, &lsquo;Abd al-Rahman Shahbandar Street <br \/>\n  Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic <br \/>\n  Fax: +963 11 211 9578 (keep trying)<br \/>\n  <strong>Salutation: Your Excellency <\/strong><br \/>\n  Minister of Foreign Affairs <br \/>\n  Walid al-Mu&rsquo;allim <br \/>\n  Ministry of Foreign Affairs <br \/>\n  al-Rashid Street <br \/>\n  Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic <br \/>\n  Fax: +963 11 214 625 3(keep trying)<br \/>\n  <strong>Salutation: Your Excellency<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited  to your country. Please insert local diplomatic addresses below: <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email  Email address Salutation Salutation <\/p>\n<p>Please check with your section office if sending appeals  after the above date. <\/p>\n<p><strong>URGENT ACTION<\/strong> FEARS FOR MISSING SYRIAN MAN<\/p>\n<p><strong>Additional Information <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to the above mentioned eyewitness, four cars  belonging to Syrian Military Intelligence stopped behind Hussam al-Nabulsi and  the other man while they were riding a motorbike. Between 16-20 armed Military  Intelligence officials got out and intelligence officials called to them to  stop. The person described by the witness to have been the leader of the group  ordered the other officials to fire at the two men, but this appeared to cause  a disagreement as at least one person stated they were not willing to shoot.  The leader then proceeded to shoot at the two men himself. The witness said  after this, an internal struggle broke out between the members of the Military  Intelligence, more shots were fired and at least five members of the group were  injured. Then a Military Intelligence Officer shot at the men. The witness said  he saw Hussam al-Nabulsi try to run away, but he appeared to be bleeding from  the legs. The other man was not seen to move after being shot. Shortly after  this, the witness fled the scene but claims that local residents later said  they saw Hussam al-Nabulsi being beaten and taken away by security forces. <\/p>\n<p>Shortly after this, a further six intelligence cars arrived,  along with ambulances. While the witness had left the scene at this point, he  stressed that the residents told him that Hussam al-Nabulsi was not taken away  in an ambulance, but in one of the cars. <\/p>\n<p>Pro-reform demonstrations began in Syria in February 2011  and evolved into mass protests in mid-March. The protests have been largely  peaceful, yet the Syrian authorities have responded in the most brutal manner  in their efforts to suppress them. Amnesty International has obtained the names  of more than 5,000 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. Members of  the security forces have also been killed, some by defecting members of the  army who have taken up arms against the government. <\/p>\n<p>Thousands of people have been arrested, with many held incommunicado  at unknown locations at which torture and other ill-treatment are reported to  be rife. Over 250 people are reported to have died in custody in highly  suspicious circumstances since 1 April 2011. <\/p>\n<p>The Syrian state has multiple security and intelligence  agencies in addition to even more opaque groups, often armed but not  necessarily uniformed, who also carry out abductions, killings and other abuses  in apparent coordination with, or at least approval of, state officials.  Amnesty International has also received reports of armed individuals  threatening, abusing and, in some cases, killing people perceived to be linked  to or supportive of the state. <\/p>\n<p>Hussam al-Nabulsi is a father of seven. <\/p>\n<p>Name: Hussam Ahmed al-Nabulsi<br \/>\n  Gender m\/f: male<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\n02-02-2012 <br \/>\nAmnesty International\n<\/p>\n<p>\nSyrian farmer Hussam Ahmed al-Nabulsi was arrested by  members of the Syrian Military Intelligence on his way to work in the coastal  town of Banias, on 31 December 2011. He has been held incommunicado at an  unknown location since then . There are grave concerns that he is being  subjected to 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-451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451","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=451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}