Mr Mazen Darwish and military court cases against SCM activists

Joint statement about Mazen Darwish and the court cases againstSCM activists

May30, 2012

Yesterday,on May 29, 2012, seven employees of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom ofExpression (SCM) and one SCM visitor were summoned to stand on trial at amilitary court in Damascus. They have been charged with “possessing prohibitedmaterials with the intent to disseminate them”. However, at the start of thecourt hearings, the judge decided to postpone the trial until June 25, because theAir Force Intelligence (AFI) Service had failed to notify whether SCM Director MazenDarwish would appear as a witness.

Thistrial fits in a pattern of censorship and repression against journalists, mediaworkers, bloggers and activists who defend freedom of expression in Syria. Ourorganisations consider that the charges against them are politically motivated.

We,the undersigned human rights organisations express our concerns about thepersonal safety of SCM Director Mazen Darwish. Therefore, we have kindly requested HisExcellency Mr Kofi Annan and his team to visit Mazen Darwish during thisvisit to Syria, and get first hand information about his health situation.

Wecall for the immediate release of Mazen Darwish, Hussein Ghareer, AbdelrahmanHamada, Mansour Al-Omari and Hani Zetani – the five people who remain inincommunicado detention in the Air Force Intelligence (AFI) detention centrewithout any charges, as well as the release of Bassam Al-Ahmad, Joan Farso,Ayham Ghazzoul, Yara Bader, Razan Ghazzawi, Mayadah Al-Khaleel,Sana Zetani and Hanadi Zahlout, who will stand on trial on June 25, 2012.

Weexpress our our solidarity with these media freedom activists and urge thejudge to observe rigorously all the guarantees of a fair trial in accordancewith international standards.

Trialagainst SCM

OnFebruary 16, 2012, the Air ForceIntelligence (AFI) conducted a raid at the premises of SCM in Damascusduring which they arrested 16 persons, including its Director, Mazen Darwish.Seven of them were conditionally released on March 18, 2012, and had to reportto the AFI detention centre every day for further interrogation. The otherswere kept in detention, some of them incommunicado.

On April 22,2012, the Military Prosecutor in Damascus informed eight of the 16 initiallyarrested that they would be prosecuted by a military court for “possessingprohibited materials with the intent to disseminate them”, a criminal offensethat is punishable by six months of imprisonment under Article 148 of the CriminalCode. These eight people would stand on trial yesterday, May 29. Theyare Bassam Al-Ahmad, Joan Farso and Ayham Ghazzoul (who were still detained onApril 22) and Yara Bader, Razan Ghazzawi, Mayadah Al-Khaleel, SanaZetani and Hanadi

Zahlout(who were released on bail on March18 and again detained on April 22). MrsZahlout is not a SCM staff member, but was a visitor to the centre on February 16.

Meanwhile,five other activists are still in held incommunicado in the AFI detentioncentre in Al-Mazzeh, Damascus. These are Mazen Darwish, Hussein Ghareer,Abdelrahman Hamada, Mansour Al-Omari and Hani Zetani. They have not beencharged so far, but since their arrest on February 16 they have been deniedaccess to their lawyers. Mazen Darwish and Hussein Ghareer are in solitarydetention. Mazen Darwish has been subjected to torture and ill-treatment.

Suppressionof freedom of expression

Thistrial fits in a pattern of censorship and repression against professionaljournalists, media workers, citizen journalists (bloggers) and media activistswho defend freedom of expression in Syria. Syria is one of the most unsafecountries for them, with the highest number of killings. Since the beginning ofthe uprising in March2011 several journalists and media activists havebeen killed. They have been executed, killed by car bombs or tortured to death.A horrible example is Khaled Mahmoud Kabbisho, who was arrested on April 17 and whose head was crushed by a tank ofgovernmental troops. Three days earlier, the body of citizen journalist Alaa Al-Din Hassan Al-Douri was delivered at his family’s home.There was evidence that he had been tortured to death. Citizen journalistMohammed Abdelmawla Al-Hariri is now handicapped as a result of torture. Atleast 31 professional journalists, citizen journalists and media activists arecurrently detained by the Syrian authorities. This includes the staff of SCMwho are still detained.

Signatories

CairoInstitute for Human Rights Studies

Euro-MediterraneanHuman Rights Network

FrontLine Defenders

Hivos

InternationalMedia Support

Observatoryfor the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of theInternational Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World OrganisationAgainst Torture (OMCT)
Reporters without Borders

SamirKassir Foundation (SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom)