Imprisoned Syrian Human Rights Activist at Risk of Death

What Human Rights Watch is Doing

• In a letter to Syrian president Hafez al-Asad on September 1l, 1998, we requested Syrian authorities to make public the information in Nizar Nayouf's medical file, and allow him immediate access to independent medical experts and to the specialized medical care that may be necessary to save his life. We also urged President Asad to release Nizar Nayouf from prison on humanitarian grounds, particularly given that he has served over half of his ten-year sentence, and allow him freely to leave Syria if this is required for the purpose of medical treatment.

• In a letter to foreign diplomats in Damascus on September 14, 1998, we urged that they raise Nizar's case with Syrian government officials at the highest levels, and to press as vigorously as possible for the immediate provision of the necessary medical treatment and his release on humanitarian grounds. We also recommend that foreign diplomats request access to Nizar without delay because such an initiative would send an important signal of concern to Syrian authorities.

• We have contacted and are sharing information with the press and nongovernmental organizations, and have expressed our concerns about Nizar to government officials. We have telephoned various U.S. State Department and Syrian government officials, and officials in foreign ministries in the United Kingdom and France.

• We have requested a meeting with the Syrian ambassador in Washington to discuss Nizar's case, and invited representatives from Amnesty International USA, the Committee to Protect Journalists, PEN American Center, and Physicians for Human Rights to join us