Syria: Where is Nizar Ristnawi?

Paris-Geneva, December 22, 2009. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) and the Euro-Mediterranean Federation against Enforced Disappearances (FEMED) express their deepest concern about the disappearance of Mr. Nizar Ristnawi, founder of the Arab Organisation for Human Rights in Syria and member of the Committee for the Defence of Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights in Syria.

Mr. Nizar Ristnawi should have been released eight months ago, in April 2009. However, at the date of issuing this press release, his whereabouts remain unknown.

Mr. Nizar Ristnawi was arrested in April 2005 after a conversation he had on human rights and other issues was overheard by a member of the security and intelligence services. He was subsequently convicted of “spreading false news” and “insulting the President of the Republic”, and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment on November 19, 2006 after an unfair trial before the Supreme State Security Court (SSSC) of Syria.

In March 2009, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) released an opinion that Mr. Nizar Ristnawi imprisonment was arbitrary. The WGAD stated that his imprisonment could not be justified on any legal basis and was the result, on the one hand, of his exercising his right to freedom of expression and, on the other, of the gravity of the SSSC’s non-observance of international standards for fair trial.

Since April 2005, Mr. Nizar Ristnawi was detained in the Sednaya Military Prison, which was the scene of violent events on July 5, 2008 during which at least 17 detainees and five other people were killed. The Syrian authorities imposed a total information black-out on the events and have neither announced the names of those who were killed or injured nor provided any information as to whether an investigation was carried out. Prison visits have been prevented and Mr. Ristnawi's family has had no contact with him since the end of June 2008. In May 2009, when they went to ask about his whereabouts to the military security branch in the town of Hama, where Mr. Ristnawi was originally being held, Mr. Ristnawi's brothers were not given any information.

The Observatory, EMHRN and FEMED fear for Mr. Nizar Ristnawi’s physical and psychological integrity and are deeply concerned by his disappearance, which seems to merely aim at sanctioning his human rights activities.

The Observatory, EMHRN and FEMED therefore urge the Syrian authorities to guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Nizar Ristnawi, to take prompt action in order to disclose his whereabouts and to release him, as well as to ensure that an immediate, effective, thorough and impartial investigation into the above-mentioned facts is conducted, the result of which must be made public, in order to identify all those responsible, bring them before a competent, independent and impartial tribunal and apply to them the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions provided by the law.

The Observatory, EMHRN and FEMED more generally call upon the Syrian authorities to put an end to any kind of harassment - including at the judicial level - against all human rights defenders in Syria, in conformity with the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders as well as with international and regional human rights instruments ratified by Syria.

For further information, please contact:

• FIDH: Gael Grilhot / Karine Appy, + 33 1 43 55 25 18
• OMCT: Delphine Reculeau: + 41 22 809 49 39
• EMHRN: Marc Degli +45 32 64 17 16
• FEMED: Nassera Dutour: + 33 1 42 05 06 22 / + 33 6 13 07 29 13