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July 22, 2019
Ahmad al Mohammad, a lawyer from Jarablos city in Aleppo governorate eastern suburbs, was arrested by members of Military Police affiliated with factions from armed opposition on July 20, 2019, from his place in Izaz city in Aleppo governorate northern suburbs and taken to a detention center in the city.
Factions from armed opposition arrested a lawyer in Izaz city in Aleppo, on July 20
May 22, 2019
Ahmad al Ahmad, a lawyer from al Zeyadiya village in Aleppo governorate northeastern suburbs, was kidnapped on May 19, 2019, by gunmen while he was passing a road linking al Zeyadiya village and al Bab city in Aleppo governorate eastern suburbs and taken to an undisclosed location. We are unable to identify the responsible party as of this writing.
Unknown gunmen kidnapped a lawyer near al Zeyadiya village in Aleppo suburbs, on May 19
le 18 janvier, 2019
Un avocat parisien, défenseur notamment de djihadistes français partis rejoindre le groupe État islamique (EI) en Irak et en Syrie, a été mis en examen jeudi à Paris notamment pour “financement du terrorisme” et remis en liberté sous contrôle judiciaire, a-t-on appris de source proche du dossier. Cet avocat, Bruno Vinay, qui vient de passer 48 heures en garde à vue à la Direction générale de la sécurité intérieure (DGSI) est soupçonné d’avoir versé de l’argent à un intermédiaire censé exfiltrer d’Irak Maximilien Thibaut, un djihadiste originaire de la région parisienne.
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https://fr.reuters.com/article/topNews/idFRKCN1PC1MO-OFRTP
https://canadafreepress.com/article/jihadi-defence-lawyer-arrested-for-financing-terrorism (ENGLISH)
https://888.hu/article-lebukott-a-francia-dzsihadistak-vedougyvedje-terroristakat-finanszirozott (HUNGARIAN)
December 7, 2018
On 09 December, people around the world rememberRazan Zaitouneh, Samira Khalil, Nazem Hamadi and Wa’el Hamada, kidnapped in Douma, Syria on this day five years ago. We, the undersigned human rights organisations, call on the United Nations, international and regional actors, and all parties to the Syrian conflict to actively facilitate an investigation into what happened to the four human rights defenders. They are among many Syrians who have been kidnapped, jailed, murdered or exiled for their peaceful human rights activities. We ask all friends and supporters to help remember Zaitouneh and her colleagues by sharing her work.
On 09 December 2013, a group of armed men presumed to be connected to the Army of Islam, a large local rebel faction at the time, broke into the Violations Documentation Centre (VDC) office in Douma city, kidnapped the four human rights defenders and took them to an unknown destination. According to unconfirmed reports, the Army of Islam kept captives, including possibly the VDC staff, at Tawbeh Prison for some time, but it has since been abandoned following the armed group’s departure from Douma in 2017.
Zaitouneh has published dozens of articles and reports on various websites and in newspapers about human rights including freedom of opinion and expression in Syria since 2004. In order to keep her work in the spotlight, her family has now published a website with a collection of her articles, as well as testimonies from people who admire her and worked with her.
Zaitouneh is one of the most prominent human rights defenders in Syria and along with other activists established the VDC, among several human rights NGOs that she helped found. She has played a key role in the promotion and protection of human rights through her brave work as a lawyer, human rights defender and journalist.
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https://www.ifex.org/international/2018/11/15/day-imprisoned-writer/
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/waiting-douma-181208095945739.html
http://www.razanwzaitouneh.com/about
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razan_Zaitouneh
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razan_Zaitouneh (FRANCAIS)
https://www.ifex.org/international/2018/11/15/day-imprisoned-writer/es/ (ESPANOL)
https://www.elmundo.es/internacional/2018/11/25/5bf9a57de5fdea3b368b4587.html (ESPANOL)
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/flegel/eine-revolution-adoptieren (DEUTSCH)
le 4 novembre, 2018
Il n’y a pas si longtemps, le 10 novembre 1995 très exactement, l’écrivain nigérian Ken Saro Wiwa a été pendu pour avoir défendu les droits de son ethnie minoritaire dans une région d’agriculture et de pêche spoliée et dévastée par l’exploitation pétrolière. Ses convictions l’avaient amené à plaider jusque devant la Commission des Droits de l’Homme.
Le 15 novembre a lieu la Journée pour les Écrivains en prison, organisée par une dizaine de milliers de membres du P.E.N. International. Pour mémoire, fondée en 1921, l’association mondiale de poètes, de romancierEs et de journalistes s’engage à défendre la libre circulation des idées entre toutes les nations, à promouvoir une littérature sans frontières et à s’opposer à toute restriction de la liberté d’expression. Au siège du P.E.N. International à Londres, le Comité des Ecrivains emprisonnés avait recensé 775 cas de femmes et d’hommes de lettres persécutés et réprimés pour délit d’opinion pendant le premier semestre de l’an 2003 par exemple. Nombre d’entre eux ont été arrêtés, torturés, emprisonnés ou contraints à l’exil. 22 personnes ont été tuées ou assassinées, 13 portées disparues. Le Comité a établi une liste non exhaustive des Etats à haut risque: Algérie, Bangladesh, Chine, Cuba, Iran, Birmanie, Syrie, Turquie, Vietnam… Depuis quinze ans, la liste des Pays et ces cas a explosé en courbe exponentielle
Aussi, cette Journée pour les EcrivainEs en prison, est-elle au fil des années devenue un moment fort de solidarité et de soutien envers touTEs les écrivainEs victimes de l’intolérance et de la dictature, sans oublier leurs familles harcelées, intimidées ou menacées, qui n’empêche pas un soutien continu et actif.
Réduire les gens de lettres au silence, briser leur plume, confisquer et brûler leurs œuvres, c’est la pire des tortures.
Cette année, PEN présente les cas de :
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http://www.kedistan.net/2018/11/04/15-novembre-journee-solidarite-ecrivains/
https://pen-international.org/fr/c%C3%A9l%C3%A9brer-la-litt%C3%A9rature
https://globalvoices.org/2018/08/09/four-women-icons-of-the-syrian-revolution/ (ENGLISH)
https://www.ifex.org/syria/2018/09/05/razan-zeitouneh-douma-four/ (ENGLISH)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razan_Zaitouneh (ENGLISH)
https://pen-international.org/celebrating-literature (ENGLISH)
https://www.bndestem.nl/opinie/steun-de-strijd-van-de-arabische-peerkes~a7a44afd/ (NEDERLANDS)
September 24, 2018
In the early hours of the morning on 22 September 2018, an armed group stormed the home of human rights lawyer Yasser Al-Saleem in Kafr Nabl, located in Idlib governate in Syria, and arrested him with activist Abdelhamid Al-Bayoush, who was visiting him.
Subsequent reports indicated that they were taken to Al-Eqab prison in the Jabal Al-Zawiya area, located about 40km south-west of the governorate capital, Idlib city, but the reason for the arrests was not made public.
Al-Saleem has worked effectively carrying out peaceful human rights activities in the city of Kaft Nabl, and has recently been calling for the release of detainees and abductees. The day before his arrest, he participated in demonstrations that took place in the city of Kafr Nabl on 21 September 2018 which called for the release of citizens of the city of Sweida, who were kidnapped by Da’esh recently.
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https://www.gc4hr.org/news/view/1951
http://www.syriahr.com/en/?p=103087
https://www.ifex.org/syria/2018/09/24/lawyer-al-saleem-arrested/
https://www.gc4hr.org/news/view/1952 (ARABIC)
September 5, 2018
Years before the 2011 Syrian revolution, the name of Razan Zeitouneh was well-known within activist circles in Syria.
In 2005, she founded the bilingual (Arabic and English) website Syrian Human Rights Information Link (SHRIL), which became one of the earliest sources documenting human rights abuses by Syrian regime forces when the revolution started in 2011.
Her activism had already resulted in a travel ban in 2002, just two years after Bashar Assad took over from his father, Hafez.
Despite threats and ongoing risks, Zeitouneh did not want to leave Syria. In a 2005 interview, she stated “I will never leave this country – never”. She also said that she was psychologically prepared to be arrested at any moment, adding “I’m not afraid”.
Shortly after the initial 2011 protests, Zeitouneh co-founded the Local Coordination Committees (LCCs) to help organise demonstrations and document the protests as well as the brutal crackdown inflicted upon protesters by regime forces.
Then, in June of that year, she co-founded the Violations Documentation Center in Syria (VDC) to help document “all kinds of human rights violations in Syria”.
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https://globalvoices.org/2018/08/09/four-women-icons-of-the-syrian-revolution/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razan_Zaitouneh
https://es.globalvoices.org/2018/08/16/cuatro-mujeres-cuatro-iconos-de-la-revolucion-siria/ (ESPANOL)
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