Razan Zaitouneh, above, Samira Khalil, Nazem Hamadi and Wa’el Hamada were abducted on 9 December 2013
To mark the 38th birthday (on April 29) of missing human rights defender and lawyer Razan Zaitouneh, head of the Violations Documentation Centre in Syria (VDC), winner of the 2011 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and the 2011 Anna Politkovskaya Award of RAW in WAR (Reach All Women In War), the undersigned human rights organizations today reiterate their call for her immediate release, as well as that of her missing colleagues Samira Khalil, Nazem Hamadi and Wa’el Hamada.
On December 9, 2013, the four human rights defenders, collectively known as the “Duma Four”, were abducted during a raid by a group of armed men on the offices of the VDC in Duma, near Damascus. There has been no news of their whereabouts or health since.
The VDC is active in monitoring and reporting on human rights violations in Syria and the undersigned organizations believe that the abduction of the four activists was a direct result of their peaceful human rights work. Their ongoing detention forms part of a wider pattern of threats and harassment by both government forces and non-state actors seeking to prevent human rights defenders exposing abuses.
In the months prior to her abduction Razan Zaitouneh wrote about threats she had been receiving and informed human rights activists outside Syria that they originated from local armed groups in Duma. The most powerful armed group operating in Duma at the time of the abductions is the Army of Islam headed by Zahran Alloush. In April 2014, Razan Zaitouneh’s family issued a statement saying they held Zahran Alloush responsible for her and her colleagues’ wellbeing given the large presence his group maintained in the area.
The undersigned organizations, as well as other activists, have been calling for the release of the “Duma Four” since their abductions. Today they again urge the Army of Islam and other armed groups operating in the area to take immediate steps to release the abducted VDC staff, or investigate their abduction and work for their release. They further urge governments that support these groups, as well as religious leaders and others who may have influence over them, to press for such action, in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2139, which “strongly condemns” the abduction of civilians and demands and immediate end to this practice.
Razan Zaitouneh has been one of the key lawyers defending political prisoners in Syria since 2001. She has played a key role in efforts to defend the universality of human rights and support independent groups and activists in Syria. Along with a number of other activists, she established the VDC and co-founded the Local Coordination Committees (LCCs), which co-ordinate the work of local committees in various cities and towns across Syria. She also established the Local Development and Small Projects Support Office, which assists non-governmental organizations in besieged Eastern Ghouta.
Samira Khalil has been a long-time political activist in Syria and had been detained on several occasions by the Syrian authorities as a result of her peaceful activism. Before her abduction, she was working to help women in Duma support themselves by initiating small income-generating projects. Wa’el Hamada, an active member of the VDC and co-founder of the LCC network had also been detained by the Syrian authorities. Before his abduction he was working, together with Nazim Hamadi, to provide humanitarian assistance to the residents of besieged Eastern Ghouta.
Signatories:
Alkarama Foundation
Amman Center for Human Rights Studies
Amnesty International
Arab Foundation for Development and Citizenship
Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI)
Arab Organization for Human Rights in Syria
Badael Foundation
Bahrain Centre for Human Right
Defending prisoners of conscience in Syria Organization
Cairo Center for Development (CCD)
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE)
Centre for Democracy and Civil Rights in Syria
Committees for the Defending Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights in Syria
El-Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence
Enmaa Center for Democracy and Human Rights
Fraternity Center for Democracy and civil society
Front Line Defenders (FLDs)
Freedom House
Gulf Center for Human Rights
Human Rights Fist Society , Saudi Arabia
Human Rights Organization in Syria – MAF
Human Rights watch (HRW)
Humanist Institute for Co-operation with Developing Countries (HIVOS)
Hand in Hand Organization , Syria
Monitor for Human Rights in Saudi Arabia
Index on Censorship
International Media Support (IMS)
International Centre for Supporting Rights and Freedoms
International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN)
International Service For Human Rights (ISHR)
The Tunisian Initiative for Freedom of Expression
Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) under the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Iraqi Women Network
Iraqi Journalists Rights Defense Association(IJRDA)
Iraqi Network for social Media
Kurdish Committee for Human Rights in Syria (observer)
Kurdish Organization for Human Rights in Syria (DAD)
Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation
Lawyers for Lawyers
Lulua Center for Human Rights
Madad NGOs
Maharat Foundation
MENA Media Monitoring group
Metro Centre to Defend Journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan
National Organization for Human Rights in Syria
Nazra for Feminist Studies
No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ)
One World Foundation (OWF)
Omani Observatory for Human Rights
World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) under the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Pax for Peace – Netherland
Pen International
Reach All Women in War (RAW)
Reporters Without Boarders (RSF)
Sentiel Human Rights Defenders
Syrian American Council (SAC)
Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM)
Syrian Center for Legal Researches & Studies
Syrian Journalists Association
Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR)
Syrian League for Citizenship
Violations Documentation Center in Syria (VDC)
Yemeni organization for defending human rights and democratic freedom
Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab (Photo: The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy)
We in the Bahrain and international human rights NGO community condemn the arrest and detention of Nabeel Rajab, a prominent human rights defender in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
On 4 April, the Bahrain Public Prosecution Office renewed Mr. Rajab’s pretrial detention for a further 15 days. We call on the Bahraini authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Rajab and to drop all charges against him.
On 2 April 2015, security forces surrounded Mr. Rajab’s home and arrested him in relation to two new charges involving a series of recent tweets and an opinion piece published in the Huffington Post. The first charge is for “insulting a statutory body” in connection to his documentation of mistreatment and torture in Bahrain’s Jau Prison. The second charge of “spreading rumors during wartime” relates to his reporting on civilian deaths in Yemen, in contravention of a government prohibition of any public mention that is critical of the conflict. If he is convicted on all current charges, Mr. Rajab could face more than 10 years in prison.
At the request of the public prosecution, Bahraini authorities advanced Mr. Rajab’s scheduled appeal hearing from 15 April to 5 April, only to adjourn it to 5 May. This appeal concerns the six month sentence handed down to Nabeel Rajab on 20 January in relation to a tweet critical of the Bahraini Ministries of Interior and Defense.Mr. Rajab’s continued harassment and prosecution is a clear violation of his right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Article 19 of the UDHR states that, “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression…” while Article 19 of the ICCPR provides that, “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.”
We therefore call on the government of Bahrain to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Nabeel Rajab from custody and drop all charges against him. We further call on Bahrain to ensure free and peaceful expression, and to cease all harassment of and restrictions against civil society and human rights defenders in Bahrain.
Sincerely,
•Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB)
•Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR)
•Bahran Human Rights Society (BHRS)
•Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD)
•CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
•English PEN
•European Center for Democracy and Human Rights (ECDHR)
•FIDH, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
•Index on Censorship
•International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
•No Peace Without Justice
•OMCT, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
•Rafto Foundation for Human Rights
•VIVARTA
•World Movement for Democracy
Background: Index award winner Mr Nabeel Rajab is the President and Co-Founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Deputy Secretary General of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and a member of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East Advisory Board.
Bahrain authorities have previously prosecuted Mr. Rajab on politically motivated charges. They have never presented any credible evidence that Mr. Rajab has advocated, incited or engaged in violence.
Mr Rajab was detained from 5 May to 28 May 2012, for Twitter remarks criticizing the Interior Ministry for failing to investigate attacks carried out by what Mr. Rajab said were pro-government gangs against Shia residents. On 28 June 2012, a criminal court fined him 300 Bahraini Dinars (US$790) in that case. Authorities again detained Mr. Rajab on 6 June 2012, for another Twitter remark calling for Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman al Khalifa to step down. On 9 July 2012, a criminal court convicted and sentenced him to three months in prison on that charge. A court of appeal overturned that verdict, but in a separate case a criminal court sentenced him to three years in prison for organizing and participating in three unauthorized demonstrations between January and March 2012. An appeals court reduced the sentence to two years, which Mr. Rajab completed in May 2014.
In September 2014 Mr. Rajab traveled to Europe to call for stronger international action on Bahrain. He met with representatives of various governments, the European Union, the European Parliament, and participated in the 27th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
On 1 October 2014, less than 24 hours after his return to Bahrain, Mr. Rajab was summoned to the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) Cyber Crimes Unit for interrogation, where officers arrested and interrogated him for a number of hours in relation to a tweet he published while abroad. This arrest ultimately lead to Mr. Rajab’s conviction on 20 January 2015, on charges of “insulting public institutions,” referring to the Bahrain Ministries of Defense and Interior. The Bahraini government charged him in relation to a tweet in which he criticized members of the Bahraini security forces who have joined the ISIS extremist group. Mr. Rajab was charged under Bahrain’s penal code which unduly restricts and criminalizes, “[offending] by any method of expression the National Assembly, or other constitutional institutions, the army, law courts, authorities or government agencies.” The court sentenced him to six months in prison. Following international attention in his case, Mr. Rajab was released on bail pending the completion of his appeal.
Most recently, Mr. Rajab was arrested on 2 April 2015 on separate charges of insulting a statutory body, and spreading rumors during wartime. The former charge is related to Mr. Rajab’s documentation of human rights abuses at Bahrain’s Jaw Prison on social media. The latter is related to his documentation and criticism of Bahraini involvement in the Yemeni conflict in an opinion piece written for the Huffington Post.
Simultaneously, Mr. Rajab’s previous case has been reopened by the public prosecution, impeding his appeal. If these charges are upheld, and he is convicted of the new charges, Mr. Rajab may face over 10 years in prison.
After several unsuccessful appeals to prison administration officials for adequate medical assistance, leading Bahraini human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja has publically announced that he has gone on hunger strike in protest of his continued arbitrary detention and mistreatment while in prison.
Al-Khawaja, who began the water-only hunger strike on 2 March 2015, is suffering from serious health issues and is at severe risk of further health complications.
“He sounded weak and exhausted on the phone to an extent that we could tell how sick he was, but this won’t stop him from battling for his freedom and the freedom of all human rights defenders in Bahrain,” said his daughter Maryam Al-Khawaja, Co-Director of at the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR).
Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, the Co-founder of the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), was sentenced to life in prison in June 2011 for peaceful human rights activities The undersigned organizations and individuals express their grave concern about the continued mistreatment of Al-Khawaja while in detention and call on the Government of Bahrain to immediately and unconditionally address Al-Khawaja’s legitimate demands.
On 23 February 2015, Al-Khawaja delivered a letter to the head of Jaw prison informing the authorities that he would be starting a hunger strike on 2 March 2015 including the demands listed below.
Specific demands related to the hunger strike:
1. Hand over a copy of his medical file to his family or his lawyer to get a second opinion on a much-needed operation. This request was previously made on 2 January 2015.
2. Allow visitation rights to his son-in-law via the procedure of making special requests, according to standard procedures.
3. Allow flexibility in the number of people permitted during family visits as it used to be 10 but had been reduced to six.
4. Make available the prison law list to make clear what rights and obligations prisoners have.
5. Allow families to bring magazines to prisoners, which used to be allowed but have been stopped since three weeks ago.
6. Make available Al-Wasat and Al-Watan newspapers with the rest of newspapers available.
7. Allow families to bring a radio or make it available at the prison store as per the decision that was made five months ago but not implemented after the banning of MP3 players.
8. Set up a mechanism for follow up in regards to the other issues related to Building 7 at Jaw prison.
General demands:
1. Protest about continued arbitrary arrests and lack of investigation into torture.
2. Protest against the generally bad situation in the prison, especially in the recent period.
Background information:
On 4 September 2012, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued a decision on Al-Khawaja’s case, defining it as “arbitrary” and calling for his immediate release. This is at least the fourth time Al-Khawaja has gone on a water-only hunger strike, putting him at serious risk of cardiac arrest or slipping into a coma. During the last phone call he made to his family on 14 March, Al-Khawaja’s blood sugar was 2.5, his blood pressure was 90/60, his weight had gone down 10 kilos to 53, ketone level was 2+, and he sounded exhausted and weak on the phone. He also informed his family that the doctors conveyed a threat from officers that if his health further deteriorates, he will be forcibly moved and force fed, an action that is considered torture by the United Nations experts.
According to a local internal medicine specialist, “When fat stocks are used up after prolonged or recurrent periods of hunger strikes, a catastrophic protein catabolism will develop. Main somatic complications ensuing from these physiopathological mechanisms are dehydration, shock, renal failure, stroke, hypoglycemic coma, metabolic disturbances (arrhythmias), vitamin deficiencies (Gayet-Wernicke), peptic ulcers and nephrolithiasis, without forgetting the major risks associated with re-nutrition.”
She warned, “Serious complications and death occur especially from the fortieth day on, but early and unexpected complications are possible. Close medical monitoring is recommended after 10% of weight loss in lean healthy individuals. Serious medical problems begin at a loss of approximately 18% from initial body weight. The risk of neurological signs by thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency is common in cases of fasting with exclusive intake of sugar and liquids.” Those who go on hunger strike are prone to have multiple deficiencies including iron deficiency, Vitamin b12 and Folate deficiency which will make them at greater risk of developing anemia.
Al-Khawaja’s family members noticed that he was very pale, which could be secondary to chronic anemia due to his recurrent hunger strikes with underlying malnutrition conditions. Chronic anemia especially in cases of hunger strike with Folate or B12 and other mineral deficiencies will make persons undergoing hunger strikes prone to have cardiac failure with high risk of arrhythmia.
We the undersigned organisations and individuals call on the Government of Bahrain to immediately and unconditionally release Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, who has been imprisoned solely for practicing his right to free expression and as a result of his human rights work. We also call on the authorities in Bahrain to respond to Al-Khawaja’s demands, and to guarantee better prison conditions for all prisoners in Bahrain.
Signed:
Avocats Sans Frontier (ASF)
Amman Center for Human Rights Studies
Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB)
Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI)
Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR)
Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD)
Bahrain Rehabilitation and Anti-Violence Organization (BRAVO)
Bahrain Salam for Human Rights
Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR)
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE)
CIVICUS : World Alliance for Citizen Participation
Damien McCormack – Irish Surgeon and activist
European Bahraini Organization for Human Rights (EBOHR)
Freedom House
Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR)
Index on Censorship
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
International Service for Human Rights
Khiam Center for Rehabilitation
Lawyer’s Rights Watch Canada
Lord Eric Avebury – Vice-Chair, Parliamentary Human Rights Group UK
MENA Monitoring Group
No Peace Without Justice
PEN International
Sentinel Defenders
The International Center for Supporting Rights and Freedoms
Yemen Organization for Defending Rights and Democratic Freedoms
Participate in our campaign #FreeAlkhawaja
Take an active role in our solidarity campaign by supporting Al-Khawaja in his hunger strike battle, by signing the petition to free Al-Khawaja on the following link:
Safa Al Ahmad is a Saudi journalist and documentary maker who has spent the last three years covertly filming an unreported mass uprising in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.
Her 30-minute documentary, Saudi’s Secret Uprising, was broadcast by the BBC in May 2014, and has drawn widespread attention to the violent and bloody protests.
Al Ahmad took enormous risks in her regular filming trips to the Eastern Province. First, as a woman travelling alone, she drew the attention of Saudi officials, who operate in a country in which women have limited control over their day-to-day lives. Second, she carried a camera full of footage of dissenting activists. Saudi Arabia is ranked by Freedom House as one of the most restrictive Arab countries in terms of free expression – Al Ahmad would almost certainly have faced severe punishment if caught filming.
She also directed Al Qaeda in Yemen: A new front in 2012, documenting one of the militant group’s principal strongholds; she is currently editing her second Yemen documentary. Her article about the restrictive treatment of women in Saudi Arabia compared to neighbouring Arab countries, Wishful Thinking, was featured in the PEN award-winning book Diaries of an Unfinished Revolution.
Al Ahmad’s film work was done in Qatif, an urban area home to the world’s biggest oil field. But the dilapidated area has seen little of the vast wealth provided by these natural reserves. Qatif is the centre of Shia Muslims in Saudi Arabia, who make up less than 15 per cent of the country’s population. Residents believe that they are subject to sectarian discrimination by the Sunni monarchy.
Impoverished and blocked from celebrating Shia religious festivals by authorities, people from across the Eastern Province began peacefully demonstrating in March 2011. Buoyed by the ongoing Arab Spring, the protests for improved civil rights quickly gained traction, becoming the biggest series of political demonstrations ever witnessed in Saudi Arabia.
But faced with a government which refused to meaningfully engage with protesters or recognise the demonstrations as a serious issue, activists soon turned violent. Stones and molotov cocktails were thrown at police forces, and handguns were increasingly used. In the subsequent two years of conflict, 20 activists and two policemen were killed, and hundreds of people were detained for months at a time without trial.
Al Ahmad single-handedly broke the media blackout on the protests holding sway both inside and outside the country, where the image of Saudi Arabia as a relatively stable region has dominated. She travelled into the heart of the violence and searched, sometimes for months, for protesters willing to speak to her. She interviewed activists on the government’s most wanted list, who would later be killed or imprisoned. Eventually, she gained the activists’ trust to the point that she was given dozens of hours of footage of the violent protests.
Extensive and violent online abuse has been directed at Al Ahmad by Saudi government supporters. They regard the documentary as sectarian propaganda, even though the documentary ends by showing the destructive belligerence of many protesters.
She has sparked a row between the BBC and the Saudi government, who contacted the broadcaster to express their displeasure at the documentary’s characterisation of events. She has been informally advised not to return to the country, where her family live.
