About IFEX:

News by region:

IFEX Campaigns and Advocacy:

IFEX Email Products:

Opportunities and assistance:

Alert

Journalist Nizar Nayyouf on renewed hunger strike, imminent death feared

(IPI/IFEX) - In a 24 April 2001 letter to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, IPI expressed its deep concern about the fate of Nizar Nayyouf, a journalist and human rights activist, who is near death in a Damascus military prison after going on a renewed hunger strike.




According to information before IPI, Nayyouf began a hunger strike on 24 April after the authorities withdrew a promise, made earlier this month, to release him unconditionally. Nayyouf, who is suffering from Hodgkin's disease, a form of cancer, and other health problems after years of torture and denial of adequate medical care, ended a sixteen-day hunger strike in February after prison authorities lifted a ban on visits from his family. IPI fears that he will not survive another hunger strike.

Nayyouf, a leading member of the banned Independent Committee for the Defence of Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights in Syria and editor-in-chief of its monthly newsletter, "Sawt-al-Democratiyya" ("Democracy's Voice"), was arrested on 10 January 1992 and sentenced to ten years in prison for allegedly disseminating false information and belonging to an unauthorised organisation.

While in prison, he has been tortured and beaten so severely that he is partially paralysed from the waist down and nearly blind. In addition to Hodgkin's disease, he is suffering from liver disease, dermatitis, and ulcers. He is confined to a tiny isolation cell and the authorities have made it clear that he will only receive life-saving treatment if he pledges to refrain from political activity and signs an admission that he made false statements about the human rights situation in Syria.

Recommended Action

Send appeals to the president:
- urging him to ensure that human rights, including freedom of expression and of the press, are respected in Syria
- calling upon him to exercise compassion and to ensure that Nayyouf is released immediately and unconditionally

Appeals To

APPEALS TO:

His Excellency Bashar al-Assad
President of Syria
Presidential Palace
Damascus, Arab Republic of Syria

A fax number is not available. Please copy appeals to the source if possible.