(IPI/IFEX) – In a 15 February 2002 letter to Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, on the eve of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s official state visit to Italy (19-21 February), IPI brought to the Italian president’s attention the ongoing campaign of harassment and intimidation against Syrian journalist Nizar Nayyouf’s family. As a result of their refusal […]
(IPI/IFEX) – In a 15 February 2002 letter to Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, on the eve of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s official state visit to Italy (19-21 February), IPI brought to the Italian president’s attention the ongoing campaign of harassment and intimidation against Syrian journalist Nizar Nayyouf’s family. As a result of their refusal to publicly condemn Nayyouf’s public statements as lies, the family has suffered greatly at the hands of the Syrian authorities.
The Nayyouf family has faced daily violence, harassment and the threat of exile. Family members have been brutally attacked on the streets by the authorities. They have lost their jobs and been prevented from attending university. In a bid to keep them incommunicado, their telephone lines have also been cut. Unable to contact the outside world and out of fear of further attacks, the family lives under de facto house arrest in almost total isolation. Forced to live off the father’s meagre US$35 monthly pension, the family’s situation has become increasingly difficult. Despite this, the family conducted a hunger strike in December 2001 in a desperate attempt to gain international support. However, their protest largely went unnoticed.
The Nayyouf family’s struggle dates back to Nizar Nayyouf’s 1992 arrest and subsequent ten years’ imprisonment for being a member of the banned Independent Committee for the Defence of Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights in Syria and for reporting human rights violations during the 1991 presidential elections. While in jail, Nayyouf was tortured and beaten so severely he was partially paralysed from the waist down and nearly blinded.
The campaign against the Nayyouf family comes at a time when the journalist is in France receiving medical treatment necessitated by his years of confinement and torture. Because of the injuries received by Nayyouf at the hands of his torturers, IPI feels there is a need to publicise the case whenever President al-Assad travels abroad. Moreover, IPI firmly believes the Syrian government’s polices may be influenced by international opposition. Evidence for this may be seen in the original decision to release Nayyouf in May 2001.
Unfortunately, concern for the plight of Nayyouf and his family appears to be diminishing among members of the international community, despite the continuation of the violence. Indeed, it appears the violence has simply shifted to the journalist’s family.
If President al-Assad’s political statements were the measure of political reform, Syria would indeed seem to be moving in the direction of openness and greater freedom. However, as the case of Nizar Nayyouf and his family proves, political reform is merely a statement, whereas oppression is an everyday reality in Syria. After inspiring beleaguered journalists everywhere with his fight against oppression, it is now Nayyouf’s family that serves as a reminder that the struggle for freedom of expression carries a high price.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
– urging him to condemn the ongoing campaign against Nayyouf and his family
– asking him to raise this issue during his talks with President al-Assad, thereby addressing the wider issues of basic human rights and true political reform within Syria
Appeals To
His Excellency Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
President of the Italian Republic
Palazzo del Quirinale
Rome, Italy
Fax: +39 06 469 93125
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
