On 16 March 2011, numerous human rights defenders were arrested as authorities cracked down violently on a peaceful protest in Damascus. Those arrested included human rights defenders Mr Mazen Darwish, Ms Suhayr Al Atassi, Mr Naret Abdelkarim, Mr Tayeb Tezini, Ms Sereen Khouri and Mr Kamal Sheikho.

Further Information

Kamal Shiekho was the subject of a previous Front Line Urgent Appeal dated 28 February 2011. Mazen Darwish was the subject of a Front Line Urgent Appeal dated 15 September 2009. Sereen Khouri was the subject of a previous Front Line Urgent Appeal dated 16 April 2008.

It is reported that at approximately noon on 16 March 2011, around 100 individuals gathered outside the Syrian Ministry of the Interior in order to peacefully demand the release of prisoners of conscience. However, they were confronted by police armed with batons and individuals in plain clothes who proceeded to violently break up the demonstration. Approximately 30 individuals were arrested, including the aforementioned human rights defenders.

Among those arrested was human rights defender Kamal Sheikho, a literature student, blogger and human rights defender who formerly worked with the Committee for the Defence of Democratic Liberties and Human Rights in Syria, and subsequently became active in defending human rights independently. He had been released on bail on 3 March 2011 following over seven months' detention on charges of “spreading false information that could debilitate the morale of the nation”. He vehemently denies the charges against him and had begun a hunger strike on 16 February 2011 in protest against his detention. The next hearing in his trial is scheduled for 28 March 2011.

Front Line believes that the arrest and detention of Mazen Darwish, Suhayr Al Atassi, Naret Abdelkarim, Tayeb Tezini, Sereen Khouri and Kamal Sheikho.