| | |
|
| |
|
|
Syria No Room to Breathe State Repression of Human Rights Activism in Syria
HRW Index No.: E1906 October 17, 2007 Also available in 
Download PDF, 210 KB, 46 pgs Purchase online Download E-Book Off the Record U.S. Responsibility for Enforced Disappearances in the “War on Terror” This 21-page briefing paper, published by six leading human rights organizations, includes the names and details of 39 people who are believed to have been held in secret US custody abroad and whose current whereabouts remain unknown. The briefing paper also names relatives of suspects who were themselves arrested and detained, including children as young as seven. The list of missing people includes nationals from countries including Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan and Spain. They are believed to have been arrested in countries including Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia and Sudan, and transferred to secret US prisons operated by the CIA. June 7, 2007 False Freedom Online Censorship in the Middle East and North Africa This 144-page report documents online censorship and cases in which Internet users have been detained for their online activities in countries across the region, including Tunisia, Iran, Syria and Egypt. These attempts to control the flow of information online contradict governments' national and international legal commitments to freedom of opinion and expression and the summit's own Declaration of Principles. The report is based on an examination of thousands of Web sites from Middle Eastern countries and interviews with dozens of writers, bloggers, computer experts and human rights activists. HRW Index No.: E1710 November 15, 2005 Download PDF, 1800 KB, 118 pgs Purchase online Download E-Book US/Canada: Transfer of Maher Arar to Torture Human Rights Watch Report to the Commission of Inquiry on Maher Arar On June 7, Julia Hall, Senior Researcher for Human Rights Watch, testfied before a Canadian Commission of Inquiry that is investigating the transfer of Maher Arar to Syria, where he alleges he was brutally tortured. Arar, a Canadian citizen, was transferred by U.S. authorities to Jordan with the understanding he would be turned over to Syria. Hall presented a report written by Wendy Patten, former U.S. Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch, that detailed U.S. rendition policy. The U.S. government has come under increasing scrutiny for its policy of accepting assurances of proper treatment from countries that routinely use torture. June 7, 2005 Still at Risk Diplomatic Assurances No Safeguard Against Torture This 91-page report documents the growing practice among Western governments—including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands—of seeking assurances of humane treatment in order to transfer terrorism suspects to states with well-established records of torture. The report details a dozen cases involving actual or attempted transfers to countries where torture is commonplace. HRW Index No.: D1703 April 15, 2005 Download PDF, 563 KB, 94 pgs Purchase online Empty Promises Diplomatic Assurances No Safeguard Against Torture Individuals suspected of terrorism should never be returned to a country where they risk torture and ill-treatment. Promises of fair treatment by states with well-known records of torture are inherently unreliable, and governments that justify returns through such promises, known as “diplomatic assurances,” are violating the absolute prohibition against torture and eroding a fundamental principle of international law. The death penalty, however reprehensible, is legal and usually carried out publicly. But torture is illegal and practiced in secret. Governments routinely lie about whether they’re torturing people or not, and in some situations they may not even have adequate control to guarantee security. This 39-page report documents cases where governments returned or considered returning suspects on the basis of such formal guarantees, and raises concern that in some cases, those returned were, in fact, tortured or ill-treated. HRW Index No.: D1604 April 15, 2004 Download PDF, 360 KB, 39 pgs Purchase online Syria: Child Soldiers Global Report 2001 From the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers It is not known if there are any under-18s in government armed forces due to lack of information on the minimum age for voluntary recruitment. June 12, 2001 Syria: Landmine Monitor Report Key developments since March 1999: Syrian engineers cleared mines in the Golan Heights under UN Disengagement Observer Force supervision between November 1999 and May 2000. Although it was previously believed that Syria had not produced mines, Jordan has declared possession of Syrian-made mines. August 1, 2000 An Alliance Beyond the Law Enforced Disappearances in Lebanon An unknown number of Lebanese citizens and stateless Palestinians are imprisoned in Syria: some of them “disappeared” in Lebanon as long ago as the 1980s. In two cases we documented, Palestinian families learned only recently through information brought to them by released prisoners, that their loved ones may still be alive and in Syrian custody. The problem, unfortunately, not only involves past abuses but also extends to current practice. Lebanese citizens and stateless Palestinians continue to disappear in Lebanon, taken into custody there by Syrian security forces and then transferred to and detained in Syria, perpetuating a climate of fear. HRW Index No.: E903 May 1, 1997 Purchase online Syria: The Silenced Kurds Kurds are the largest non-Arab ethnic minority in Syria, comprising about 8.5 to 10 percent of the population of 13.8 million. This report documents the situation of stateless Syrian-born Kurds — 142,465 by the government's count, and well over 200,000 according to Kurdish sources — who have been arbitrarily denied the right to Syrian nationality in violation of international law. These Kurds, who have no claim to a nationality other than Syrian, are literally trapped in Syria: not only are they treated in a discriminatory fashion in the land of their birth, but also they do not have the option of relocating to another country because they lack passports or other internationally recognized travel documents. This report also examines policies and practices of the Syrian government that violate the right of Kurds in Syria to enjoy their own culture, use their own language, and otherwise exercise freedom of expression, also in violation of international human rights standards. These issues have received little international attention. HRW Index No.: E804 October 1, 1996 Syria's Tadmor Prison Dissent Still Hostage to a Legacy of Terror In December 1995, some 1,200 political prisoners in Syria were released pursuant to an amnesty marking the 25th anniversary of the rule of Pres. Asad. It was widely reported that most, if not all, of the released prisoners were members or supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. These releases were marred by reports that some sentenced political prisoners continue to be pressured to sign statements of support for the government, and repudiate their past political activities, as a condition for release. Furthermore, 21 prisoners who refused to sign such statements were recently transferred to Tadmor military prison, a facility infamous throughout Syria for the extremely brutal abuses that have occurred there since 1980. HRW Index No.: E802 April 1, 1996 The Price Of Dissent This report focuses on Syria’s state security court and the continuing trials of individuals accused of membership in unauthorized political groups. It also examines the practice of torture in Syria, and the pressure and punishment placed on political prisoners after release. It documents the high price that some Syrians have paid—and continue to pay—for exercising their right to peaceful political dissent. HRW Index No.: E704 July 1, 1995 European Parliament Should Condition EC Aid on Human Rights Improvements The regime of President Hafez al-Asad, which has ruled in authoritarian fashion since 1970, continues to merit the ignominious distinction of holding some of the world’s longest-serving political prisoners, detained without charge or trial for over twenty years. Despite the welcome mass releases over the last two years of thousands of Syria’s security and political prisoners, some 4,000 remain incarcerated. Given the regime’s apparent resolve to end its previous isolation from the West, we call on the European Community to continue to play a lead role in calling attention to human rights abuses in Syria. HRW Index No.: E509 November 1, 1993 Purchase online THROWING AWAY THE KEY Indefinite Political Detention in Syria Political detainees in Syria have the distinction of being some of the most isolated in the world. Most have no contact whatsoever with their families; security services for their part, seldom acknowledge having them in their custody. Cramped in windowless underground cells, or in giant communal cell blocks with open-mesh roofs, thousands of individuals whose #147;crime” was affiliation with banned political organizations have remained in detention without trial for years and, in a handful of cases, for more than two decades. Despite the amnesty of some 3,500 detainees in 1991 and what initially appeared to be timely and impartial trials for others, Middle East Watch concludes that a fair trial is impossible in Syria without fundamental reform. HRW Index No.: 1-56432-087-1 November 1, 1992
|
 
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Contribute to Human Rights Watch
Home | About Us | News Releases | Publications | Info by Country | Global Issues | Campaigns | Community | Store | Film Festival | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | Press Contacts | Privacy Policy © Copyright 2006, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA |
