(RSF/IFEX) – At the beginning of September 2001, journalist Nizar Nayyouf, who is currently in France, was summoned by a Syrian judge on charges of “issuing false reports abroad.” “The summoning of Nizar Nayyouf takes place in the context of the Syrian authoritiesâ arrests of important political figures and members of civil society like Riad […]
(RSF/IFEX) – At the beginning of September 2001, journalist Nizar Nayyouf, who is currently in France, was summoned by a Syrian judge on charges of “issuing false reports abroad.” “The summoning of Nizar Nayyouf takes place in the context of the Syrian authoritiesâ arrests of important political figures and members of civil society like Riad el Turk, Maamoun el-Homsi, Riad Seif and Aref Dalila. We fear that this summons will quickly be followed by [Nayyoufâs] arrest,” RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard stated. “What is taking place today in Syria is very worrying. There is a clear will to muzzle the voices which call for more reforms and freedoms, both inside the country and abroad,” he added. Several foreign media correspondents in Damascus have been threatened or harassed by the authorities in the past month. RSF notes that one journalist, ‘Adel Isma’il, has been imprisoned in Syria since 1996. RSF lists Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as one of the thirty enemies of press freedom throughout the world.
On 3 September, Nayyouf, who is currently hospitalised in France, was summoned by an investigating judge. The journalist is charged with “trying to change the constitution by illegal means and issuing false reports from a foreign country.” During a press conference held in RSFâs offices on 16 July, the journalist announced his intention to sue government officials guilty of crimes committed in Syria. Also charged with “inciting inter-religious strife,” the journalist risks five years’ imprisonment according to his lawyer, Anouar Bounni. Under Syrian law, the investigating judge could issue an arrest warrant against Nayyouf if he fails to appear for questioning after two notifications.
Moereover, several foreign media correspondents in Damascus are regularly threatened or harrassed by the Syrian authorities. This pressure increased while they were covering the recent arrests of opposition leaders. When el-Homsi was arrested, some of the foreign journalists were warned not to issue any reports about the incident. El-Homsi, an independent member of parliament (MP), was arrested on 9 August on charges of aiming to “stop the modernisation reforms” and “undermining the state.” Seif, also an independent MP, was arrested on 6 September on the same charges.
Nayyouf, editor-in-chief of the monthly “Sawt el Demokratia”, contributor to the magazines “Al-Hurriya” and “Al-Ma’arifa” and member of the human rights organisation CDF (Committee for the Defense of Democratic Freedom and Human Rights in Syria, a banned organisation), was arrested in 1992. He was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment and deprived of his civil rights for having written a leaflet detailing irregularities during the 1991 presidential elections and the human rights violations which accompanied them. Released on 6 May, the journalist gave numerous interviews to the Arab press in which he highlighted the question of human rights in Syria. He was re-arrested in June in Damascus by the security services and detained for twenty-four hours.
The journalist arrived in France on 15 July and was hospitalised in the La Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris. During his nine years in prison, he was tortured and never received appropriate medical care. His lower limbs are paralysed because of fractured vertebrae due to torture, particularly his being crucified upside down and struck with iron bars. Today, he cannot walk without crutches.
Nayyouf has also been sued in France for “defamation” by Rifaat al-Assad, the Syrian presidentâs exiled uncle. On 14 and 15 July, the journalist stated on Al Jazira, a London-based Arabic station, that Rifaat al-Assad was implicated in murders of prisoners in Tadmor military prison (eastern Syria) in 1980.
