Press briefing notes on Syria: Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Rupert Colville Location: Geneva Date: 23 September 2014 Subjects: Syria and Thailand Also in Syria, we are closely following the trial of human rights defender Mazen Darwish who, along with two colleagues, has been charged with “promoting terrorist acts” as prescribed under article 8 of Syria’s broad and ill-defined anti-terrorism law. Mr. Darwish, Hani Al-Zitani and Hussein Ghareer worked with the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression and were detained in February 2012 in Damascus by Syrian Air Force Intelligence officials during a raid on their office. The men have reportedly been ill-treated and tortured in detention, but these allegations have not been investigated. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has found that the three had been arbitrarily detained due to their human rights work, and has called for their immediate release. On June 9, the Government announced an amnesty, including for anyone charged under under article 8 of the anti-terrorism law which formed the basis of the charges against Darwish, Al-Zitani and Ghareer, but they were never freed. The men are due to appear in court tomorrow, possibly for both the verdict and sentencing. We call on the Syrian Government to release all those who have been detained for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association, including human rights defenders, journalists and political opponents who have been detained under the anti-terrorism law. - See more at: ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15085&LangID=E#sthash.thNVnkql.dpuf
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 16:46:27 +0000
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