Individuals at Risk

Further Information on UA 09/07 (5 January 2007) and follow-up (18 January 2007) - Fear of torture and other ill-treatment/incommunicado detention/forcible return/medical concern

SYRIA

Yassin Suleiman (m), Kurd, aged 35 and Akash Suleiman (m), his father, aged over 60

Yassin and Akash Suleiman were released on 24 January, apparently without charge.

Yassin Suleiman was apparently tortured during the first two weeks he was held by Syrian State Security in Damascus. His father was also apparently tortured. Both men were held incommunicado until 22 January, when they were permitted to see their family at the prison they had been moved to, in Qamishli, in the north-east of the country.

Both men had been arrested on 21 December 2006, a few weeks after Yassin Suleiman and his wife and daughter were forcibly returned to Damascus by the Norwegian authorities, who had rejected their application for asylum. Yassin and Akash Suleiman were apparently detained in connection with Yassin’s connections with the unauthorized Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party

Norway is a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees which states that no one should be “… expelled or returned … in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular group or political opinion.” According to Amnesty International’s research, torture and ill-treatment is routinely inflicted on Syrian Kurdish political prisoners, while they are held incommunicado in Syrian prisons and detention centers.

No further action is requested from the UA network. Amnesty International will continue to monitor the situation of Yassin and Akash Suleiman, and take further campaigning action as necessary.

The 2006 Global Write-a-thon was a huge success according to the report from Amnesty International sections and activists around the world. Here are the highlights:

From Alabama to Wyoming:

Across the United States, nearly 5000 Amnesty activists wrote and signed 20,000 letters, cards, and petitions on behalf of dozens of prisoners of conscience, human rights defenders under threat, men and women facing execution, and other individuals at immediate risk of human rights violations around the world.

Form Algeria to Zambia:

Over 40 Amnesty sections and structures participated in the Write-a-thon with members, staff and activists writing letters, sending emails and signing petitions on behalf of individuals at risk. AI activists from about 20 sections that reported their results, have written around 100,000 letters. Unfortunately, no statistics are available for the amount of coffee consumed per letter during those long midnight shifts!

This Write-a-thon saw the most sections participating and the most letters written since it began in 2001!

Special Guests:

Former POC and environmental activist, Felipé Arreaga, and his wife visited AIUSA's Washington DC office on December 8th, 2006. AI members in Toronto were able to meet Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer at a Human Rights Day Open House, at the same time as they wrote letters on behalf of her sons, featured in UA 156/06.

In Zurich, the Write-a-thon received additional support from Swiss actress Melanie Winiger who also met journalist and former POC from the Maldives, Jennifer Latheef, whose case was supported by many AI sections. Melanie Winiger, who had also supported Jennifer Latheef with a letter in 2005, said: "For me this was impressive proof that letter-writing campaigns are effective."

The Global Write-a-thon is held annually to mark the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on December 10, 1948. The Write-a-thon began as an AI Poland initiative in 2001 and has grown bigger each year.

December 2007...
Help us plan for the Global Write-a-thon 2007 or learn more about how you can get involved. Contact Tanya Cooper at tcooper@aiusa.org.

Further Information on UA 222/06 (18 August 2006) and follow-up (19 October 2006)

Incommunicado detention/fear of torture or ill-treatment/possible prisoner of conscience

SYRIA

'Aly Sayed al-Shihabi (m), aged 50, English language teacher


‘Ali Sayed al-Shihabi was released on 9 January under a Presidential amnesty. He thanked “everyone for all the work they did on my behalf: lawyers, members of Amnesty International and all other international organizations.”

He had been arrested on 10 August 2006, and apparently held at the State Security centre at Kafr Soussa, in the capital, Damascus. In October he was moved to ‘Adra prison, on the outskirts of Damascus.

‘Ali Sayed al-Shihabi was reportedly held on charges relating to “knowingly broadcasting abroad false or exaggerated news which damages the reputation of the state or its financial standing” and “joining a political or social organization of an international nature without the permission of the government”.

‘Ali Sayed al-Shihabi has written articles on political and social issues, particularly for a website called Hiwar al-Mutamedn (‘Civilised Dialogue’). He also had two books published in Syria on social affairs. He has been summoned for questioning many times in the past and was held as a prisoner of conscience between 1982 and 1991 for his membership of the outlawed Party for Communist Action. He has since left the party.

No further action is requested from the UA network. Many thanks to all who sent appeals.

Further Information on UA 308/06 (17 November 2006)

Fear of forcible return/torture/unfair trial

BELGIUM 12 Iranian nationals (m)

The 12 Iranian men, who had been facing forcible return to Iran, were released on 21 December. Their lawyer will now be working to ensure that they obtain a legal right to remain in Belgium. Read the original urgent action for more information.

According to the lawyer, they were freed because the necessary paperwork to deport them never arrived from the Iranian government. The Belgian authorities also reportedly stated that the 12 Iranians were freed to create more places in detention centers.

It seems clear that international pressure, including that from the UA network, played a significant role in their release.

Many thanks to all who sent appeals. No further action is requested from the UA network.