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IPI UPDATE: Most detainees from Syria media NGO raid still in custody

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:50 GMT

Source: Content partner // IPI

A Syrian army tank is seen in the neighbourhood of Erbeen, near Damascus, February 20, 2012. The words on the tank read, "Assad, Syria" REUTERS/Handout

By Naomi Hunt

VIENNA, Feb 22, 2012 – Mazen Darwish and other men detained during the raid on the Syria Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) in Damascus last week remain in custody, according to a statement released by the SCM today.

Members of the much feared Air Force Intelligence service arrested SCM chief Mazen Darwish and 15 other staff members, visitors and journalists during a raid on the centre’s offices on 16 February, SCM sources told IPI. No warrant was shown at the time of the arrest, according to the SCM statement.

Those who remain in custody include Darwish, Hani Zitani, Abdelrahman Hamada, Hussein Ghrer, Manssor Hamid, Bassam Al-Ahmad, Ayham Ghazoul and Jwan Ferso, along with medical student Shady Yazbek, who was also in the office during the raid according to the SCM.  

Six women arrested during the 16 Februaryraid were released late on Saturday night, on the condition that they report to the intelligence service every morning from now on, reports said.

 “We are deeply worried about the physical well-being of Mazen Darwish and those who were arrested along with him,” said IPI Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie. “We call on the Air Force Intelligence service to release these prisoners immediately.”

According to a statement received from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, four UN Special Rapporteurs have spoken out against the group’s detention. These include Margaret Sekaggya for human rights defenders, Frank la Rue for freedom of expression, Juan Mendez for torture and  El Hadji Malick Sow, the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. “The Syrian authorities should end all acts of harassment against human rights defenders and release all those arbitrarily arrested and detained,” the rapporteurs said.

At the time of this writing, it was unknown what charges – if any – Darwish and the other detainees face, or what the reason was for their arrest.  
Four journalists have been killed in Syria since the start of the uprising, according to the IPI Death Watch, and at least 11 others are in government custody or unaccounted for, according to an IPI review of multiple news reports.

Copyright 2012 by International Press Institute (IPI) and their affiliate SEEMO. All worldwide rights reserved.