Syrian Human Rights Committee – MAD and Kurdish Organization for Defending Human Rights and Public Freedoms in Syria – DAD report that a joint patrol belonging to the political security and military security services from the city of Kobani raided a house where they arrested political activist Arif Attoun Khalil, who was visiting a friend there.
He was arrested without a warrant or court order, and was taken to an unknown destination. There has been no information about his whereabouts since this arrest.
Arif Attoun Khalil, born in 1965 in a village in the Afrin area, is a political activist in the Democratic Union Party (PYD). He suffers from several diseases, including chronic chest and middle ear infections.
The Syrian Human Rights Committee – MAD and Kurdish Organization for Defending Human Rights and Public Freedoms in Syria – DAD strongly condemn the arrest of political activist Aref Attoun Khalil, and we are deeply concerned about his fate. They call for the end of arbitrary arrests that take place outside the law, and which constitute a flagrant violation of the rights and fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Syrian Permanent Constitution of 1973, pursuant to a State of Emergency and martial law declared in the country since 3 August 1963.
They believe that this arrest constitutes a violation of Syria’s commitments under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was ratified on 12 April 1969 and came into force on 23 March 1976, specifically Articles 9, 14, 19, 21, and 22. The arrest was in clear violation of the Declaration on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution of the United Nations No. 52/144 Date 9 December 1988, specifically articles 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
They demand the immediate release of Aref Attoun Khalil and all prisoners of conscience and expression who are currently in prisons and the detention system. They call for an end to arbitrary detention, which is a crime against freedom and personal security, which will be effected by the abolition of the State of Emergency, martial law and exceptional laws to launch freedom and democracy. They call upon the Syrian government to implement the recommendations regional and international human rights treaties, and fulfill its international commitments as a signatory of the international conventions on human rights.
17-7-2010 |
