As Syria enters a new era, GCHR calls on the new government to uphold civil liberties for all citizens, and pursue transitional justice.
This statement was originally published on gc4hr.org on 8 December 2024.
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) congratulates all citizens in Syria on the emerging of the dawn of freedom today after years of heavy and difficult human rights violations that affected thousands of innocent citizens, including human rights defenders.
As we share the joy of the Syrian people, we must remember the brave group of prominent human rights defenders who gave everything they had to defend human rights in the country, most notably Razan Zaitouneh, Wael Hamada, Samira Al-Khalil, Nazem Hammadi, Khalil Ma’touq and Bassel Khartabil, among many others.
GCHR welcomes the efforts made to release all prisoners of conscience from all official and secret prisons. We are delighted to hear that blogger Tal Al-Mallouhi, 33, was released this morning, on 08 December 2024, from Adra Women’s Prison after being arrested on 27 December 2009 for her personal views on social media, including her call to end the corruption that was rampant during the previous regime. She was sentenced to five years in prison on 15 February 2011 but not released at the end of her sentence.
GCHR calls on the authorities in the new government to respect all civil and human rights of all citizens without discrimination, and to begin seriously implementing the principles of transitional justice, most notably holding accountable those who violated citizens’ rights, providing redress for the harm done, and ensuring that such violations do not recur.
