 Abd Al-Hafiz Al-Rahman |
Alkarama has received information that the 3rd Military Unit Judge in Aleppo has unjustly sentenced Abd Al-Hafiz Abd Al-Rahman on Wednesday 29 September 2010 to a year's imprisonment under Article 288 of the Syrian Penal Code.
Abd Al-Hafiz Abd Al-Rahman, a human rights activists, was released on 1 July 2010 after the 3rd Military Unit Judge in Aleppo had agreed upon his release.
Abd Al-Hafiz Abd Al-Rahman is a member of the Council of Trustees of the Syrian human rights organisation (MAF) and gives training on international human rights procedures. He was arrested on 2 March 2010 by Syrian Military Intelligence services at his home and taken to an unknown location. He did not reappear until 8 May 2010 when he was first put before a Military Court in Aleppo.
Alkarama has previously written to the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances on 29 April 2010 seeking its urgent intervention with the Syrian authorities. On 15 June 2010, Alkarama sent his case to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights, and the Special Rapporteur for the Promotion and Protection of Freedom of Opinion and Expression.
Abd Al-Hafiz Abd Al-Rahman was arrested in the presence of his family, as well as a colleague from MAF, Nadira Abdo, who was also arrested before being released five days later on 6 March 2010.
The Syrian Military Intelligence services who carried out the arrest were dressed in plain clothes, and did not present a warrant, and did not tell Abd Al-Hafiz Abd Al-Rahman and his colleague Nadira Abdo the reason for their arrest. They were then taken, according to Nadira Abdo, to the Military Intelligence headquarters in Aleppo.
During this operation, the Military Intelligence services also searched the house without a warrant, and took Abd Al-Hafiz Abd al-Rahman's personal possessions, including his books, in particular books in Kurdish, his personal computer, and various unpublished reports by MAF.
Alkarama strongly condemns the unjust judgement against the Abd Al-Hafiz Abd al-Rahman by the 3rd Military Unit Judge in Aleppo, which fails to meet the standards of a fair trial. His arrest and sentencing are in violation of basic texts relating to the right of freedom of expression in accordance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Syria is a signatory. It also clashes with the recommendations issued by the 44th session of the Committee against Torture in May 2010 on the contradiction between the State of Emergency law in force for more than 40 years now and the international human rights treaties on the one hand, and the Syrian constitution on the other.