SYRIA, — Defense of Detainees of Opinion Organization in Syria – Rawanka reports that a number of prisoners of conscience in the prisons of the country have staged hunger strikes, and have signed a statement:
- Haitham al-Maleh
- Habib al-Saleh
- Mustafa Juma
- Ali al-Abdullah
- Mahmoud Barish
- Kamal Labwani
- Mohammed Saeed al-Omar
- Mashaal al-Tammo
- Anwar al-Bunni
- Khalaf al-Jarboah
- Saadoun Shekho
- Ismail Abdi (German citizen)
- Kamal Sheikho
In their statement they point out that on 8 March the State of Emergency will have been in existence for forty-eight years, brought in by a non-elected military coup; and the seventh anniversary of the martyrdom of the Kurds in Syria in the massacre at Qamishlo will be on 12th March. The situation remains without just laws in Syria, and this situation is upheld by security services. The judiciary is used to eliminate freedom of opinion and expression and to crush dissent through fabricated charges and arbitrary sentences. They say that the Syrian people suffer at the hands of this corruption, and have suffered a lot of for the cause of truth and freedom. They call for the abolition of this oppressive totalitarian government in line with the winds of democratic change sweeping the Arab world, to enshrine the legitimate rights claimed by the people in Tunisia, Egypt and which should come in Syria as well.
The listed detainees sign as prisoners of conscience in Adra prison, and they have taken up a hunger strike to demanding the end of political arrests, the removal of injustices, and the restitution of rights that were taken from civil and political life.
Kamal Sheikho, born 1978, is continuing a hunger strike despite being taken before the Second Damascus Criminal Court on 7 March 2011, in case no. 438 of 2011. The hearing was devoted to interrogation on the charge of Article 286 of the Syrian Penal Code. He is the Syrian blogger and activist arrested by Syrian security forces on 23 June 2010, on the Syrian-Lebanese border while attempting to leave the country. http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/14598
When the court asked Kamal Sheikho questions he refused to talk, and put his medical patches on his mouth in protest at his arrest and trial. It is understood that he has been on hunger strike since 16 February 2011. The court decided to postpone the questioning session until 14 March 2011 The court session was attended by the lawyer representing the organizations signing this statement.