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For Immediate Release
Syria Free Activists Detained Over Petition
12 Held for Declaration on Relations with Lebanon
(New York, May 20, 2006) – Syria should immediately release all
activists arbitrarily detained for signing a petition calling
for improved Syrian-Lebanese relations, Human Rights Watch said
today. Those detained include prominent writer Michel Kilo and
human rights lawyer Anwar al-Bunni.
Over the last week, officials from State Security (Amn al-Dawla)
arrested 12 activists. Those arrested were among some 300
Lebanese and Syrian activists, intellectuals and human rights
defenders who signed a petition on May 12 calling for improved
Lebanese-Syrian relations based on respect for each country’s
sovereignty. The declaration called on Syria to recognize
Lebanon’s independence, highlighted the importance of improving
economic ties on the basis of transparency, rejected attempts to
impose economic sanctions on the Syrian people, and condemned
attacks on Syrian workers in Lebanon.
“Arresting respected critics like Anwar al-Bunni and Michel Kilo
shows that the Syrian government has no interest in peaceful,
homegrown reform,” said Joe Stork, deputy director for the
Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch.
State Security officials summoned Kilo on May 14 for questioning
and failed to release him. Kilo, a journalist and a widely
respected member of Syria’s domestic opposition, has frequently
faced questioning by security agents in recent months, but
usually only for a few hours. Three days after his arrest, he
appeared before an investigating judge who charged him with
“weakening national sentiment” and “spreading false or
exaggerated news that can affect the standing of the state,”
among other things.
On May 16, State Security arrested two other human rights
activists who had signed the petition: Nidal Darwish, a member
of the board at the Committees for the Defense of Democratic
Liberties and Human Rights in Syria; and Mahmoud Mer’i,
secretary of the Arab Organization for Human Rights in Syria.
The following day, State Security continued its crackdown by
arresting at least eight other Syrian signatories, among them
Anwar al-Bunni, a prominent human rights lawyer. A witness told
Human Rights Watch that he saw two men wearing civilian clothes
dragging al-Bunni away as he was getting into his car outside
his home in Damascus.
Syrian security agencies have frequently harassed al-Bunni in
the past, and the Syrian Bar Association suspended his
membership 10 days prior to his arrest, reportedly for
publicizing the plight of his dissident clients. Al-Bunni had
been slated to run the first center for human rights training in
Syria but the authorities shut down the center, to be funded by
the European Union, before it became operational.
The other seven signatories arrested on May 17 were: Suleiman
Shummor, a member of the political bureau of the Worker’s
Revolutionary Party and a leader of the National Democratic
Gathering; Ghalem Amer, a board member of the Arab Organization
for Human Rights in Syria; Mahmoud al-‘Issa, a former prisoner
sentenced for membership in the Communist Workers Party; Khalil
Hussein, a member of the Kurdish Future movement who had
previously spent 12 years in prison for membership in the
Communist Workers Party; Safwan Tayfur, an activist; Abbas
Abbas, an activist from the town of Musiaf ; and Khaled Khalifa,
who was reportedly arrested on the basis of mistaken identity.
On May 18, agents from State Security arrested yet another
signatory, Muhammad Mahfud, a member of the Jamal Atassi
political discussion forum.
Syrian human rights defenders told Human Rights Watch that with
the exception of Abbas and Khalifa, who were released one day
after their arrest, the other 10 remain in detention at the
‘Adra central prison near Damascus. Eight of them were referred
to the investigating judge yesterday, but five refused to be
interrogated because the authorities did not allow them to have
their lawyers present. Interrogation of the other three
reportedly centered on the declaration.
Human Rights Watch called on the Syrian authorities to end their
harassment and persecution of human rights defenders and
activists and to release immediately and unconditionally the 10
who remain in detention for exercising their rights to freedom
of expression and association.
For further information, please contact:
In New York, Nadim Houry (English, Arabic, French):
+1-212-216-1259; or +1-917-974-1262 (mobile)
In Washington, D.C., Joe Stork (English): +1-202-612-4327; or
+1-202-299-4925 (mobile
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