Front Line is concerned following reports of ongoing harassment against human rights defenders in Syria, including the arbitrary detention of Mr Moussa Shnani and the travel bans imposed against Mr Aktham Naisse and Mr Abdulkarim Rehawi.

Further Information

Moussa Shnani is a human rights lawyer and a member of the Syrian Organisation for Human Rights (Swasiah). In 2001, he was awarded the human rights research prize for young lawyers by the International Bar Association. Abdulkarim Rehawi is the head of the Syrian Human Rights League and director of the Arabic Organisation for Penal Reforms in Syria. Aktham Naisse is a lawyer and the Director of the Syrian Committee for the Defence of Democratic Liberties and Human Rights. He won the 12th Martin Ennals Award for human rights in 2005. Front Line issued an urgent appeal on 15 October 2008 regarding the imposition of a travel ban against him.

On 12 February 2009, at approximately 3 p.m., Moussa Shnani was arbitrarily detained in Damascus Airport. At approximately 6.30 p.m., he was transferred to one of the branches of the state security administration in Damascus. At 12.30 a.m., he was released. However, his passport and his Syrian identification card were confiscated from him. On 16 February 2009, Moussa Shnani was asked via telephone by the state security administration to present himself the following morning at the branch of state security administration where he had been detained. He went there and has not been seen since.

In a separate incident, on 13 February 2009, a travel ban was imposed on Abdulkarim Rehawi when he was prevented from travelling to Cairo because of his work as a member of the Arabic Organisation for Penal Reforms. He has been told that the travel ban remains in force. Meanwhile, Aktham Naisse was scheduled to participate on 21 and 22 March 2009 in a conference in Qatar on the situation in Palestine and, more particularly, Gaza. However, he has been denied permission to travel by security forces, and informed that the travel ban imposed against him on 14 October 2008 remains in force.

Front Line believes that the arbitrary detention of Moussa Shnani and the travel bans against Aktham Naisse and Abdulkarim Rehawi are directly related to their legitimate work in the defence of human rights. Front Line is concerned that these human rights violations form part of an ongoing trend of harassment against human rights defenders in Syria.