Journalist Nayyouf’s family about to be exiled, held incommunicado

(IPI/IFEX) – The 28 November 2001 alert was incorrectly titled, “Journalist Nizar Nayyouf’s family exiled”. The alert should have been titled, “Journalist Nayyouf’s family about to be exiled, held incommunicado.” The IFEX Clearing House regrets the error. IPI has also learned that members of the Nayyouf family have received anonymous death threats, that they “will […]

(IPI/IFEX) – The 28 November 2001 alert was incorrectly titled, “Journalist Nizar Nayyouf’s family exiled”. The alert should have been titled, “Journalist Nayyouf’s family about to be exiled, held incommunicado.” The IFEX Clearing House regrets the error.

IPI has also learned that members of the Nayyouf family have received anonymous death threats, that they “will be killed in the streets,” in apparent connection to this case.

An updated version of the alert follows:

In a 28 November 2001 letter to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, IPI strongly condemned the decision to exile the family of Syrian journalist Nizar Nayyouf.

According to IPI sources, Syrian authorities are preparing to exile the journalist’s family to Lebanon. In a bid to keep them incommunicado until successfully expelled from the country, the authorities have cut off the telephone lines of Nayyouf family members. The journalist’s father, Ali Nayyouf, met with Brigadier Solman Abdallah, the chair of military intelligence in the city of Lattakia, who told him, “These are the orders of the high authorities in Damascus.” Since receiving this information, IPI has been unable to reach any Nayyouf family members in Syria. IPI has also learned that members of the Nayyouf family have received anonymous death threats, that they “will be killed in the streets,” in apparent connection to this case.

The disturbing behaviour of the authorities follows the expiration on 22 November of a government-imposed two-week ultimatum presented to the family, namely to either condemn Nizar Nayyouf’s critical statements or face enforced exile. By refusing to condemn the journalist’s statements in the past, family members have suffered systematic harassment by the authorities. This harassment included the confiscation of the Nayyouf family’s land, the firing of two of Nizar Nayyouf’s brothers from teaching posts in state schools and threats to prevent a third brother from graduating from university.

In addition to the harassment and planned exile of his family, Nizar Nayyouf was charged in absentia on 3 September, with “trying to change the constitution by illegal means and issuing false reports from a foreign country”. These charges come at a time when the journalist is in France for medical treatment necessitated by his many years of torture in Syrian prisons. IPI looks upon these charges and the treatment of the Nayyouf family as gross violations of everyone’s right to freedom of opinion and expression, as guaranteed by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Following what seemed like a promising start to this year, which included the introduction of Syria’s first independent newspapers in almost 40 years, the most recent events point towards a renewed deterioration of press freedom in the country. On 20 November, in a show of solidarity and concern for the Nayyouf family, IPI and seventeen other human rights organisations signed an appeal urging the president to bring to an end the unfair treatment of the Nayyouf family. However, the recent action of Syrian authorities represents a further blow to press freedom and IPI noted that it doubts whether Syria respects the rule of law and human rights.

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