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Nizar Nayyouf released after twenty-four hours in detention

(RSF/IFEX) - Nizar Nayyouf was released during the night of 21 to 22 June, after twenty-four hours in detention. On 21 June, Syrian authorities denied having abducted the journalist. "The Syrian government is not responsible for his disappearance, which could be voluntary," an official Syrian source told Agence France-Presse.




In a telephone interview with RSF on the morning of 22 June, Nayyouf gave his version of the facts:

"I left my village on the evening of Tuesday 19 June with a member of my family, who accompanied me until Jabla, near the city of Lattaquié, where I met a friend. I left with my friend by car toward Damascus, where I had an appointment for a medical visit. A vehicle followed us. After arriving in Damascus, we went by car to several places that I had not seen in years. At about 6 p.m., while we were going to the doctor who was to examine me, four men got out of a car and stopped our own. The armed men made me get out, threw a hood over my head and put me and my crutches in their car, a Peugeot. At the same time, they threatened my friend, who stayed in the car, with their weapons.

"I was then taken to an office. During the entire detention, I was blindfolded. I recognised certain voices in the office. They belonged to men from military intelligence. They made me sit in a very comfortable chair. I deduced from this that I was in a luxurious office. I was neither handcuffed or tied up. And then they started to submit their bargain to me: they offered me a car, a house and lots of money in exchange for my silence about what I knew concerning human rights violations in Syria. I refused. Then they threatened to kill my brother, who is currently in France. During the night, they took me to a cell that is located under the building in which I was interrogated. They punched and kicked me. On the legs, the hands and the head. Several times, men came to ask me if I had changed my mind about the bargain.

"Early Thursday evening, they came to get me in my cell and a car took me to Jabla. The men left me in front of the city's hospital. A taxi driver who saw me alone and in bad condition took me into his car.

"In my opinion, the intelligence services orchestrated this abduction. I think that the president would never have ordered such an operation. I am also certain that when he learned about what had happened, he personally intervened so that I would be released."

- Photos of Nayouf taken by RSF at the beginning of June are available on the RSF website: www.rsf.fr

For further information, contact Virginie Locussol at RSF, rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51, e-mail: middle-east@rsf.fr, Internet: http://www.rsf.fr