SOHR activists have reported that Turkish Intelligence arrested the 45 year-old lawyer “Luqman Hanan Bin Hamid” from inside his house in Al-Mahmoudiyah neighbourhood in Afrin city, where he was taken to an unknown destination.
The lawyer hails from Dalanly village in Maabatly district in Afrin countryside north eastern of Aleppo and he suffers a chronic disease, where he was arbitrarily arrested without any known crimes, and his fate remain unknown.
It is worth noting that the lawyer was previously arrested by the Turkish Intelligence.
Lawyers of the Turkish authorities and human rights organizations appealed to reveal the fate of the arrested lawyer and other detainees inside the prison of the Turkish authorities, and demand the instant release of the detainees.
This morning, the Syrian lawyer and human rights activist Luqman Hanan bin Hamid, was martyred under torture in the Turkish intelligence prisons in the city of Afrin, north of Aleppo, after he was arrested two days ago because he criticized Turkish practices through social media. pic.twitter.com/E8nNQURvOY
Pictures documenting the death of the lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Luqman Hanan bin Hamid, at the hands of Turkish intelligence in the occupied city of Afrin, with traces of brutal torture that led to his death inside Turkish intelligence prisons. pic.twitter.com/wjbKuPO5Dx
Today is Lawyers Day in Syria, a day that is celebrated by lawyers from Syria. On this day, we would like to highlight the cases of disappeared lawyers Khalil Ma’touq and Razan Zaitouneh from Syria.
Khalil Ma’touq
Khalil Ma’touq, director of the Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research, is a human rights lawyer who has been defending peaceful activists for more than 20 years. He and his colleague and assistant Mohammed Zaza have been missing since October 2, 2012, when they were en route from Ma’touq’s home in Sahanaya, a Damascus suburb, to his office in Damascus. It is believed that they were arrested at a government security checkpoint. The exact reasons for the arrest are unknown, but there is reason to believe their arrest is connected to their legitimate and peaceful work in human rights.
Despite repeated requests by their families and lawyers for information about their fate, their whereabouts are still unknown. The Syrian authorities have denied that they arrested the men. However, individuals released from the government’s custody in 2015 have informed Ma’touq’s family that while in detention they spotted him in various government-operated detention facilities.
Razan Zaitouneh
As a prominent human rights lawyer, activist, and journalist, Razan Zaitouneh has dedicated her life to defending political prisoners, documenting crimes against humanity, and helping others free themselves from oppression. Since the beginning of the crisis in 2011, Razan Zaitouneh has played a key role in efforts to defend human rights for all and protect independent groups and activists in Syria. She is co-founder of the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and the Violations Documentation Center, which documents human rights violations in Syria.
Together with her husband and two colleagues, Razan Zaitouneh disappeared on 9 December 2013 in Douma, after a group of armed men stormed the office of the Violations Documentation Center. Since then, no one has heard from them.
Khalil Mar'ei Ma'touq Lawyer, and executive director of the Syrian Center for Studies and Legal Researches, from al Mshairfa village in Homs governorate, born in 1959.He was arrested by Syrian regime forces on Tuesday⤵️#SaveTheSyrianDetainees#بدنا_المعتقلينpic.twitter.com/zr2w4UFIH0
Today it is 9 years since the disappearance by Assad regime security forces of Human Rights lawyer Khalil Ma'touq, director of the Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research.https://t.co/hu98ZMmtECpic.twitter.com/6GDuGK1c48
Razan Zaitouneh is a Syrian pro-democracy activist and human rights lawyer who co-founded the Violations Documentation Center (VDC) set up to record war crimes. She was abducted in 2013 and her current whereabouts are unknown. pic.twitter.com/8rOExc6HfP
A l'occasion de la Journée int. des droits des femmes,on se souvient du rôle prépondérant de la représentante des femmes syriennes, l'icône de notre révolution:Razan Zaitouneh,avocate qui a défendu partout les droits de l'homme qui a été kidnappée par Assad ou les islamistes. pic.twitter.com/mmZiLUGDwJ
Everyday, but especially on International Women’s Day, we remember Samira Khalil, Razan Zaitouneh, and the 10,000+ Syrian women who have been detained or forcibly disappeared in Syria since 2011 #بدنا_المعتقلينpic.twitter.com/clII8D1EyC
— Salma Almidani, MPH سلمى الميداني (@Salma_Almidani) March 8, 2022
Razan Zaitouneh is a #Syrian human rights lawyer and civil society activist. Actively involved in the Syrian uprising. She was kidnapped on 9 December 2013, most likely by Jaysh al-Islam. Her fate remains unknown. #SaveTheSyrianDetainees#بدنا المعتقلين pic.twitter.com/eMRDAm7tuZ
Assassinations continue in northeastern Syria. A lawyer was killed by unknown men in the town of Karamah in eastern rural Raqqa.https://t.co/VAuAcYIdHl
A legal team is fighting to get bond for a Dearborn man accused of being an ISIS soldier who hates America. However, the man has threatened to kill his lawyer as soon as he’s released, according to a government court filing.
U.S. District Judge David Lawson in Detroit will decide the bond issue Monday for Ibraheem Musaibli, 30, held in the Livingston County Jail on charges linked to the Islamic extremist group. A trial is set for October.
The story of the bond issue was first reported by Robert Snell of The Detroit News.
Musaibli was arrested on the Syrian battlefield in 2018 and subsequently indicted on allegations of knowingly providing and attempting to provide material support to ISIS. He was detained by Syrian Democratic Forces and was transferred to U.S. custody in July 2018.
He has been in federal custody nearly three years. His attorneys say he’s harassed in jail because he’s Muslim. He’s in isolation.
[…]
In arguing against bond, the government questioned his ties to the community:
Much of Musaibli’s history is unremarkable: he worked for his parents’ perfume shop after dropping out of high school; he has had three failed marriages; he has rarely seen his four children (including not even having met two of them); and has few financial resources. Musaibli may have some physical and mental health issues, but none that support his release from custody.
Further more, the government wrote:
Musaibli expresses that he wants to be imprisoned in an Arab country rather than “this infidel country.” Finally, over a discovery issue, Musaibli claimed that “as soon as he is out he will kill [his] attorney.
Her fight against injustice made her enemies on all sides of the war. Ten years after Syria’s revolution, DW looks back on her life — and the dark fate that awaited Razan Zaitouneh in rebel-held territory.
Razan Zaitouneh was beaming as she swayed among the protesters. She was caught up in defiant revelry as she joined the crowds in chanting against the Syrian regime.
When the revolution kicked off, it was as if Zaitouneh had waited her entire life for it. She was among the first activists to call on the Syrian government to release political prisoners in an open letter published a day after the first major protests on March 15, 2011.
“We are facing one of the most brutal regimes in the region and the world with peaceful protests, songs of freedom — chanting for a new Syria,” she said in a 2011 video statement. “I’m very proud to be Syrian, and to be part of these historical days, and to feel that greatness inside my people.”
But that wasn’t enough.
Back then, 33-year-old Zaitouneh became directly involved in organizing protests in Damascus and other cities across the country. Her efforts would contribute to the formation of the Local Coordination Committees, which were instrumental to early democratic efforts in Syria.
Her opposition to armed resistance set her apart from many of her contemporaries — some of whom would go on to support organized violence against the regime.
“The most important part of her personality is her rejection of injustice and her willingness to do anything to fight injustice,” says Mazen Darwish, a longtime friend of Zaitouneh who leads the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression.
“Razan had no ambition for power,” adds Darwish, his eyes bright from remembering her.
Seeds of revolution
Even before she would spearhead revolutionary action in Syria, Zaitouneh championed the rights of the underserved, the marginal and those most at risk of the Assad regime’s brutal security apparatus as a human rights lawyer.
“People’s rights and treating them with justice is not something open to interpretation nor is it a point of view,” Zaitouneh said in the last article she wrote before her disappearance.
Civil Society Organizations Demand the Immediate Disclosure of the Fate of Human Rights Activist Razan Zaitouneh and Her Colleagues and Accountability for the Kidnappers
Today completes seven years since the disappearance of the four activists. On December 9, 2013, the joint office of the Violations Documentation Center (VDC) in Syria, the office of the Local Development and Small-Projects Support (LDSPS), and that of the Rising for Freedom magazine in the city of Douma in the countryside of Damascus were attacked by an armed group that kidnapped activists Razan ZAITOUNEH, Wael HAMADA, Samira ALKHALIL, and Nazim HAMMADI. Despite the fact that all the military factions left the area after the forces of the Syrian regime took control of it, the fate of our colleagues remains unknown to this day.
At a time when the fruits of their labor are being revealed through the documentation of violations and crimes committed, the collection of testimonies, pictures, and data about the chemical attack in Eastern Ghouta in 2013, and the filing of judicial complaints against the perpetrators of these crimes, in addition to the ongoing work in supporting local communities and free civil work in areas outside the control of the Syrian regime, the fate of these activists remains unknown. This is true despite all efforts made by families and friends of the kidnapped to reveal their fate, including communication with many parties and a legal complaint against ‘Jaysh al-Islam’, the main suspect in the kidnapping incident.
Over the past seven years, no real efforts have been made by the countries concerned in the Syrian issue to reveal their fate. Some of them have a kind of guardianship over the military factions and in turn have the ability to put great pressure on them. However, the efforts of politicians, diplomats and representatives of these countries were limited to statements and condemnations that did not help in revealing the fate of the kidnapped.
Joint Statement: Seven Years Since the Disappearance of the Four Activists Civil Society Organizations Demand the Immediate Disclosure of the Fate of #HumanRights Activist Razan Zaitouneh and Her Colleagues and Accountability for the Kidnappers@VDC_Syriahttps://t.co/fMLVvKsUqQ
Irish Syria Solidarity Movement vigil tonight on the 7th anniversary of the abduction of the #Douma4 Syrian Civil Rights activists Nazem Hamadi Samira Khalil, Razan Zaitouneh Waal Hamada & called for release of all of #SyriasDisappearedpic.twitter.com/ADH77KpySn
7 years ago, 4 prominent activists, Razan Zaitouneh, Samira al-Khalil, Wael Hammadeh & Nazem Hammadi were abducted by disappeared by Jaysh al-Islam in #douma/Damascus.They have not been seen or heard from since. We will not forget. We will not forgive.
För 7 år sedan idag kidnappades människorättsaktivisterna Razan Zaitouneh, Samira al-Khalil, Wael Hamade och Nazem Hammadi av Jaysh al-Islam i Douma, en förort till Damaskus. Än idag är deras öde okänt. Det har gått 7 år, men ingen har hållits ansvarig eller ställts inför rätta. pic.twitter.com/EHeKpWjIyY
Today is the seventh anniversary of the disappearance of the great Syrian human rights defenders Razan Zaitouneh, Wael Hamada, Samira Khalil and Nazem Hamadi.
Today marks seven years since the disappearance of Syrian lawyer #RazanZaitouneh. Together with her husband and two colleagues, she disappeared after a group of armed men stormed their office. Since then, no one has heard from them. @razanwzaitounehhttps://t.co/2GDvGA2wsX
Nine people were detained by Iranian security forces outside the Turkish embassy in Tehran on Saturday while protesting against Turkey’s ongoing military offensive in northeast Syria.
Since Operation Peace Spring began on Wednesday evening, protests have sprung up across Iranian Kurdistan, also known as Rojhelat, concentrated on the major Kurdish cities of Sanandaj, Baneh, Piranshar, and Marivan, amid a heavy security presence.
Hundreds of protesters also gathered outside the Turkish embassy in the Iranian capital Tehran on Saturday to protest Ankara’s Syria offensive. The protesters chanted “death to Turkey and Erdogan” and “Rojava is not alone”.
One protester, who wished to remain anonymous, told Rudaw at least nine people were detained by security forces.
“Minutes after the protests started, security forces forced the protesters to leave the area with force,” the protester said. “The security forces detained nine protesters.”
Abdullah Jahanbyn, head of a Kurdish lawyers group, and Ismail Salary, a Kurdish human rights lawyer, are among those detained, he added.
According to @HengawO at least ten Kurdish citizens, including two lawyers and several students, were arrested by Iranian forces after participating in the protest action against the turkish invasion in #Rojava in front of the Turkish embassy in Teheran pic.twitter.com/d5LsXAYyOR
In response to a parliamentary question of Mr Sezgin Tanrikulu, the Turkish Ministry of Justice announced the number of lawyers held in prison by years. According to the Ministry of Justice the number of lawyers remanded in pretrial detention by years as following: 354, 487, 169 and 143, respectively in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Lawyer Hasan Tok who was representing the gendarme chief (colonel Ozkan Cokay) carried out an operation against trucks carrying weapons to the jihadists in Syria, was sentenced to 8 years and 1 months in prison. @ProtectLawyers@L4L_INT@EndangeredLpic.twitter.com/jzZFQa9qcQ
Joint written statement* submitted by Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada, non-governmental organization in special consultative status, and Asian Legal Resource Centre, non-government organization in general consultative status
Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), NGO without consultative status, also shares the views expressed in this statement.
Unforgotten in Thailand: Ensure truth, justice, and reparations for victims of enforced disappearance
Introduction: Persistent impunity for enforced disappearances
A pattern of impunity for enforced disappearances[1] persists in Thailand despite years of promises to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (UNCED)[2] and to pass legislation making enforced disappearance a crime.[3] The United Nations (UN) Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) reports 82 unresolved cases of enforced disappearances since 1980.[4] This number represents a fraction of Thailand’s enforced disappearances since the 1950s,[5] as families and witnesses remain silent for fear of reprisals.[6] Those most vulnerable to enforced disappearances belong to minorities or indigenous peoples. Also at risk are human rights defenders (defenders) or peaceful government critics.[7]Thailand’s current laws foster impunity for enforced disappearance; when a body is not found, murder charges are not laid.[8] No public officials have ever been held accountable for suspected involvement in enforced disappearances. The persistent pattern of impunity for enforced disappearances constitutes a grave violation of Thailand’s obligations under customary international law and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Thailand acceded in 1996.[9]
The risk of enforced disappearances is heightened by the practice of incommunicado detention of political opponents, suspects in national security cases, and suspected insurgents in southern provinces.[10]
Today is the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances. For the families of the missing, this day happens 365 times a year. #idved
Articles 48-50 of the #Zimbabwe constitution define the right to life, personal liberty & the rights of arrested & detained persons. pic.twitter.com/h8pLjvcvpP
🗓️ On the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, we recommend this report that identifies the specific ways enforced #disappearance affects #women, as both the disappeared and the relatives of the disappeared ⚠️ ➡️ https://t.co/1hTZoMGeJ4pic.twitter.com/QphSfwWZi8
— Euro-Mediterranean Women's Foundation (@euromedwomen) August 30, 2019
Anakbayan stands in solidarity with the families of victims of enforced disappearances and calls on the Duterte regime to produce and release all desaparecidos as we commemorate the International Day of the Disappeared
Aug. 30 is the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. Syrians have known the cycle of enforced disappearances and detention for decades. Releasing detainees and reforming the security sector must be a priority, especially for the UNSC https://t.co/p29LpFPvA7
— Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (@SJAC_info) August 29, 2019
The lawyer Ahmad al Ahmad, attorney general at the court of Bza’a city in the eastern suburbs of Aleppo governorate, his corpse was found decomposed in a well in Qubbat al Sheikh village in the eastern suburbs of Aleppo governorate, on August 9, 2019. His family confirmed that they recognized him by his clothes and belongings. We note that gunmen kidnapped the lawyer on May 19, 2019, while he was passing the road linking al Bab city and al Ziadiya village in the eastern suburbs of Aleppo governorate and forcibly disappeared him. We are unable to identify the date and the cause of his death and the party responsible for his kidnap as of this writing.
IAPL Monitoring Committee on Attacks on Lawyers 