Joint statement To stop the trial Mazen Darwish And his fellow members of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression

Members of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression are scheduled to appear before the anti-terrorism court in Damascus on May 19, 2013, the members are

• Mr. Mazen Darwish, head of the center.

• Activist blogger Hussein Greer – Hani Zettati.

• Mansur Hamid – Abdul Rahman Hamada “under parole since February 6, 2013“.

They may face charges of terrorism due to their peaceful activities, the indictment, released on February 27, of those five members of the Center charged them with “promoting terrorist acts”, under Article 8 of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2012. It was also mentioned in the indictment that these accusations are attributed to Mr. Darwish as head of the Syrian Center, and the other four activists as workers at the center, which included the follow-up and monitoring of the news broadcast by the Syrian opposition on the Internet, publishing studies on the human rights and media situation in Syria, and documenting the names of detainees, disappeared, wanted, and dead, in addition to the charge of receiving money from a western governments. As stated in the indictment, the investigating judge in Damascus considered this work as part of an attempt to “destabilize the internal situation in Syria and provoke international organizations to condemn Syria in international forums.”

It is noted that on 16 \ 2 \ 2012 Syrian security raided the Office of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression in Seven Bahrat – 29 May Street – Damascus, and arrested Mr. Mazen Darwish, head of the center and all the workers of the center and its visitors.

Mr. Mazen Darwish has been subjected to arbitrary arrest in 16 \ 3 \ 2011 for of his participation in a sit-in carried out by families of detainees in front of the Ministry of Interior to submit a letter to the Interior Minister, as a plea to release their sons, and he was released on the same day. On 23 \ 3 \ 2011 Darwish was arrested after being summoned for investigation for media releases about the arrests in Syria and the events of Daraa.

Mr. Mazen Darwish, born in 1974, is a journalist, member of the International Federation of Journalists, and the founder and president of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression. He is also vice president of the International Institute for Cooperation and Support in Brussels and a member of the International Bureau of the Organization of Reporters Without Borders, in addition to the center which is headed by Darwish, which is the only organization in Syria specialized in the follow-up of the media and the Internet. He is also an advisory member in United Nations Economic and Social Council.

We, the organizations, bodies, and centers for the defense of human rights in Syria, express our strong condemnation and deep concern about the continuity of unfair trials of peaceful activists for peaceful democratic change in Syria and we call on the Syrian government to work for:

1. Drop the charges against the activists mentioned above, and to all who participated in peaceful demonstrations in Syria, and to stop the ongoing trials against peaceful political activists and human rights defenders.

2. If the charges are not dropped, they should guarantee the right of defendants to a fair trial before an independent and impartial court consistent with ratified Syrian obligations in particular Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948, and Article (1, 14 and 5 , 14) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1966, as well as ensure that the proceedings are in line with the standards and principles accredited to the United Nations bodies, including the basic principles on the Independence of the Judiciary issued in 1985, and the Guidelines on the Role of Prosecutors General issued in 1990.

3. That the defendants enjoy their right to trial that meets the conditions of fair trials. Because the provisions of the articles of the Penal Code are vague and largely loose to allow the authorities to use it to crack down on peaceful dissidents and human rights activists. Moreover, there are serious concerns that the defendants have been and will be subjected to ill-treatment during their detention.

4. Close the file of political detention and release of all political prisoners, prisoners of opinion and conscience, and all detained because of their participation in peaceful gatherings conducted in various Syrian cities, unless they are charged with a recognizably criminal offense and brought promptly to trial where there is fair trial standards.

5. The Syrian government should respect all its obligations with regard to human rights as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations, as set out in international instruments ratified by Syria in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and as guaranteed by the Syrian Constitution; based on that they should respect the rights of citizens and protect them fully particularly with regard to the enjoyment of freedom of expression, freedom of association, and the right to peaceful assembly. 

The name of human rights organizations signed

1.National Organization for Human Rights in Syria

2.Kurdish Committee for Human Rights in Syria (observer) / Syria

3.National Organization for Human Rights in Syria

4.Defend for prisoners of conscience in Syria – Rwankh

5.Kurdish Organization for the Defense of Human Rights and Public Freedoms in Syria ) DAD(

6.Human Rights Organization in Syria – MAF / Syria

7.Syrian Kurdish Centre for Documentation / Syria

8.Syrian Coalition Against the Death Penalty (SCODP) / Syria

9.Syrian platform for NGOs (SPNGO ) / Syria

10.Syrian Jurists Association for transitional justice and the rule of law/ Syria

11.Syrian Center for Transitional Justice and enabled democracy / Syria

12.Syrian Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture / Syria

13.National Center for the Study of Tolerance and Anti-Violence in Syria

14.Ebla Center for the Study of transitional justice and democracy in Syria

15.Syrian Center for Civil Society and Human Rights Studies

16.National Rally for women‘s and children‘s rights / Syria

17.Syrian Association for the freedom and fairness

18.Syrian Center for Human Rights Education

19.Syrian Center for Human Rights

20.Syrian Center for Democracy and Human Development

21.Republic Center for Studies and Human Rights

22.Committees for the Defense of Democratic Liberties and Human Rights in Syria

23.National Coordination for the Defense of missing in Syria

Damascus 19 \ 5 \ 2013