18-05-2012<\/p>\n
Muhammad Yassin Al Hamwi, who was among four Syrian men originally detained in September 2011, was rearrested on 4 May, having been released on 25 February. Two others, Muhammad Muhammad Al Hamwi and Ahmad Kuraitem, were released on 28 March. An acquaintance of theirs, Abd al-Akram al-Sakka, remains in detention. <\/strong><\/p>\n Muhammad Yassin Al Hamwi, <\/strong>aged around <\/strong>65, had been released on 25 February, but was arrested again on 4 May by armed members of the Air Force Intelligence. Following his arrest, they searched his home and confiscated a new laptop, a camera and other technical equipment as well as some documents, including his passport. Muhammad Yassin Al Hamwi’s wife repeatedly asked the authorities about him but has not received any information about his health or whereabouts since his arrest. There are grave fears for his health as he was tortured and ill-treated in previous detention and requires regular medication for his high blood pressure. The reasons for his arrest are unknown. According to his relative, he did not participate in any demonstrations or other pro-reform activities since his last release and was hoping to leave the country. <\/p>\n According to a relative overseas, Muhammad Muhammad Al Hamwi<\/strong> and Ahmad Kuraitem<\/strong> were taken before a judge on 28 March to answer charges relating to their participation in peaceful demonstrations. The judge dropped all charges against them and they were released. The same contact told Amnesty International that Muhammad Muhammad Al Hamwi had been tortured during the first week of interrogations following his arrest on 23 September 2011. His rib was injured and he was unable to sleep on his chest for approximately three months. <\/p>\n No further information is available about Abd al-Akram al-Sakka<\/strong>, aged around 68, who was arrested by Air Force Intelligence on 15 July 2011 and is being held in conditions amounting to enforced disappearance. <\/p>\n Please write immediately in Arabic, English or your own language:<\/strong> <\/strong> Minister of Interior <\/u> Minister of Foreign Affairs<\/u> Name Address Fax Fax number Email Email address Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address Salutation Salutation <\/p>\n Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the second update of UA 292\/11. http:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/library\/info\/MDE24\/030\/2012\/en<\/a> Additional Information<\/strong> Pro-reform demonstrations began sporadically in February 2011 but became larger and more frequent after the first killings of demonstrators the following month. The protests have been largely peaceful, yet the Syrian authorities have responded in the most brutal manner in their efforts to suppress them. In the year since then, although peaceful demonstrations have continued, the unrest has turned increasingly violent, with armed opposition groups, many loosely under the umbrella of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), carrying out attacks mainly against Syrian security forces. Amnesty International has obtained the names of 9,200 people reported to have died or been killed in connection with the unrest since mid-March 2011. Many of the 9,200 were killed during the protests or during army incursions into villages and towns in extrajudicial executions, a policy of shoot-to-kill as well as indiscriminate shelling of residential areas. <\/p>\n Thousands of suspected opponents of the government have been arrested in the past 15 months and many, if not most, are believed to have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated. Amnesty International has the names of more than 330 people reported to have died in custody in this period and has documented many cases of torture or other ill-treatment of former detainees. For further information about torture and other ill-treatment of detainees in Syria, see “I wanted to die”: Syria’s torture survivors speak out: http:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/library\/info\/MDE24\/016\/2012\/en<\/a>. Amnesty International has also received many reports of people apparently subjected to enforced disappearance, where state officials have failed to provide families with any information about what has happened to them. Most are believed to have been arrested by the security forces. <\/p>\n Despite the Syrian government’s acceptance on 27 March 2012 of the six-point plan drawn up by the Joint Special Envoy for the United Nations and the Arab League on Syria, Kofi Annan, and the ceasefire agreement of 12 April, Amnesty International has continued to receive reports of arrests and continuing detention of people in conditions amounting to enforced disappearance. <\/p>\n
\n n Expressing concern that Muhammad Yassin Al Hamwi and Abd al-Akram al-Sakka are being held in conditions amounting to enforced disappearance, and urging the Syrian authorities to reveal their whereabouts immediately;
\n n Calling on them to protect the men from torture and other ill-treatment, allow them contact with their families and lawyers of their choice, and ensure they receive all necessary medical treatment;
\n n Stating that if the two men are held solely for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression, Amnesty International would consider them prisoners of conscience and call for their immediate and unconditional release. <\/p>\n
\n PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 29 JUNE 2012 TO:<\/strong>
\n President<\/u>
\n Bashar al-Assad
\n Presidential Palace, al-Rashid Street
\n Damascus,
\n Syrian Arab Republic
\n Fax: +963 11 332 3410 (keep trying)
\n Salutation: Your Excellency<\/strong> <\/p>\n
\n His Excellency Major General Mohamad Ibrahim al-Shaar, Ministry of Interior, ‘Abd al-Rahman Shahbandar Street
\n Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic
\n Fax: +963 11 211 9578 (keep trying)
\n Salutation: Your Excellency <\/strong><\/p>\n
\n Walid al-Mu’allim
\n Ministry of Foreign Affairs
\n al-Rashid Street
\n Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic
\n Fax: +963 11 214 6253 (keep trying)
\n Salutation: Your Excellence<\/strong>
\n <\/strong>
\n Please send copies to diplomatic representatives of the Russian Federation accredited to your country, as below:<\/strong> <\/p>\n
\n Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please insert local diplomatic addresses below:<\/strong> <\/p>\n
\n <\/strong>
\n URGENT ACTION<\/strong>
\n SYRIAN REARRESTED AND HELD INCOMMUNICADO<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n Muhammad Yassin Al Hamwi, a shopkeeper, is the father of Haytham Al Hamwi, held for four years as a prisoner of conscience convicted following a grossly unfair trial for, among other offences, participating in an unauthorized march against the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Muhammad Yassin Al Hamwi spent about two weeks in prison in July and August 2005, during his son’s imprisonment, after participating in a conference that established a committee on behalf of prisoners of conscience in Syria. He was detained again between 1 and 26 May 2011, reportedly for attending a pro-reform demonstration. During this time, he was not allowed to take the medication he brought with him, but did receive visits from the prison doctor and was given different medication. He was arrested again on 23 September 2011 and released on 25 February 2012. <\/p>\n