Urgent Action 10-19-10

URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA

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For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa22310.pdf

19 October 2010

UA 223/10 Risk of Torture/ Ill-treatment

SYRIA Sheikh Hassan Mchaymech

Sheikh Hassan Mchaymech, a 46-year-old Lebanese Shi’a cleric and political analyst, has been held incommunicado in an unknown location since his arrest by the Syrian Political Security on 7 July. He is at risk of torture and other ill-treatment.

According to the family of Hassan Mchaymech, he was arrested on the Syrian side of the Jdeidet Yabous border crossing with Lebanon. He was traveling by car with his wife and her mother to Saudi Arabia to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. The family told Amnesty International that on the day of the arrest the Syrian authorities informed the Lebanese Armed Forces that he was in their custody.

The Syrian authorities have not revealed the reasons for the arrest of Hassan Mchaymech, where he is being detained, or any charges brought against him, despite several requests by the Lebanese authorities, which were made in response to his family’s tireless lobbying.

According to the family, since Hassan Mchaymech’s arrest the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has written to the Syrian authorities on more than one occasion to request clarifications of the reason of the arrest but never received a response.

His family also published three appeals in Lebanese newspapers to Lebanese President Michele Suleiman, Prime Minister Sa’ad al-Hariri and Speaker of the National Assembly Nabih Berri, calling for them to pressure the Syrian authorities to reveal Hassan Mchaymech’s fate. No response was received. The family also met with the heads of the offices of the officials mentioned above, who told them that the Syrian authorities did not respond to their demands for information.

Hassan Mchaymech suffers from a slipped disc in his back and a stomach ulcer, for which he requires regular medication. It is not known if he has access to medication.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Political Security is one of several branches of the Syrian security forces, all of which regularly detain people on the slightest suspicion of opposition to the government, and are known for torture and other ill-treatment. In 2009, at least seven people have been reported to have died as a result of abuses in custody. The authorities have taken no action to investigate these allegations. “Confessions” extracted under duress are systematically used as evidence in Syrian courts, and the defendants’ claims that they have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated are almost never investigated.

Hassan Mchaymech was a member of Hizbullah, an influential Shi’a political and military organization in Lebanon that is supported by Syria and Iran, but left in 1998 following internal disagreements. He then created and edited a monthly online magazine (http://difaf.org), in which he wrote articles calling for, among other things, tolerance of differences between the various religious sects in Lebanon and the separation of religion and politics. In August 2009, he co-founded, along with a group of other Lebanese Shi’a religious figures, the Independent Scientists’ Forum, a non-governmental organization that calls for the respect of intellectual and religious diversity and considers itself independent of government and political parties.


RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Expressing concern that Hassan Mchaymech has been detained incommunicado in an unknown location since his arrest on 7 July 2010;
- Urging the authorities to release him unless he is to be charged with a recognizable criminal offense and tried in full conformity with international fair trial standards;
- Calling on the authorities to ensure that Hassan Mchaymech is not tortured or otherwise ill-treated;
- Urging the authorities to immediately allow him visits from his family, access to a lawyer of his choosing and any medical treatment he may require.

APPEALS TO:

President
Bashar al-Assad
Presidential Palace
al-Rashid Street
Damascus,
SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC
Fax: 001 963 11 332 3410
Salutation: Your Excellency


Minister of Interior
Major Sa’id Mohamed Samour
Ministry of Interior
‘Abd al-Rahman Shahbandar Street
Damascus,
SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC
Fax: 001 963 11 222 3428
Salutation: Your Excellency

COPIES TO:

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants
Dr Ali Hussein al-Chami
Rue Sursock, Achrafiye
Beirut,
LEBANON
Fax: 001 961 1 204 895
Salutation: Your Excellency

Ambassador Dr Imad Moustapha
Embassy of the Syrian Arab Republic
2215 Wyoming Ave. NW
Washington DC 20008
Phone: 202 232 6316
Fax: 1 202 234 9548 OR 1 202 265 4585 OR 1 202 232 4357
Email: info@syrembassy.net


PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 30 November 2010.

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Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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