H.E. Bashar Al-Assad,
President of the Syrian Arab Republic

C/O: H.E. Bashar Ja'afari, Ph.D.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations
820 Second Avenue; 15th Floor
New York , NY 10017

Fax: (212) 983-4439
E-mail: syrianmission@verizonmail.com

15 April 2014

Your Excellency,

We are writing as part of the global online campaign ’30 Days for Freedom’ to call for the release of Mazen Darwish, Hani Al-Zitani and Hussein Ghrer who represent the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), imprisoned since 16 February 2012.

Mazen Darwish, founder of the SCM, and his two colleagues, Hussain Ghrer and Hani Al-Zitani, have been imprisoned for more than two years for promoting freedom of expression and reporting human rights violations committed in Syria. They were among 16 people arrested when Syrian Air Force Intelligence (AFI) raided the SCM offices on 16 February 2012.

On 24 March 2014, the General Prosecutor at the Anti-Terrorism Court in Damascus charged Darwish, Ghrer and Al-Zitani for “promoting terrorist acts” under Article 8 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 2012. Their defence has continuously protested a lack of evidence against them.

Countless protests from media watchdog groups and human rights organisations have exposed the injustice of their incarceration. On 14 January 2014, a UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) found their imprisonment to be “arbitrary” and called for their immediate release, yet they remain in custody.

Your Excellency, we urge you to release Mazen Darwish, Hani Al-Zitani and Hussein Ghrer, and all other journalists and human rights advocates imprisoned in Syria for exercising their right to freedom of expression.

Sincerely,

#FreethePress
The 30 Days for Freedom campaign

Organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum, the ‘30 Days for Freedom’ campaign aims to highlight the plight of imprisoned journalists worldwide in the 30 days leading up to 3 May, World Press Freedom Day.

www.wan-ifra.org / www.worldpressfreedomday.org