(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release: Paris, 30 April, 2001 Hunger Strike Enters Second Week Nizar Nayouf, the Syrian journalist and democracy activist, has entered the second week of a hunger strike that began after authorities reversed a decision to release him from prison, the World Association of Newspapers said Monday. Mr […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release:
Paris, 30 April, 2001
Hunger Strike Enters Second Week
Nizar Nayouf, the Syrian journalist and democracy activist, has entered the second week of a hunger strike that began after authorities reversed a decision to release him from prison, the World Association of Newspapers said Monday.
Mr Nayouf is reportedly in a dangerously weakened state, according to information received by WAN. He was reportedly taken to hospital, but may have been returned to prison. He suffers from leukaemia and other forms of cancer and is partially paralysed from repeated beatings from prison authorities.
According to information received by the Paris-based organisation, civil authorities earlier this month had agreed to free Mr. Nayouf and provide him with medical treatment. But the Syrian Intelligence Department, which has allegedly tortured Mr Nayouf, overruled the decision after Mr Nayouf had already been informed of his pending release.
Mr Nayouf began his hunger strike last Tuesday, corresponding with separate visits to Syria by French Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine and a delegation from the European Commission, which discussed co-operation between the EC and Syria.
WAN, which represents 17,000 newspapers in 93 countries, provided details of Mr Nayouf’s case to both the French foreign minister and the EC delegation. “Syria, under its new president, is attempting to improve its relations with European nations, but it must improve its human rights record beginning with the release of Mr Nayouf, who needs urgent medical care,” WAN said in a statement.
Mr Nayouf, the 2000 laureate of the WAN Golden Pen of Freedom and the UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize, began the hunger strike to protest his continuing imprisonment and to draw attention to his fight for human rights and freedom of expression in the run up to World Press Freedom Day on 3 May. It was his second hunger strike this year; in February, he went 16 days without food to protest a ban on visits by his family.
Mr Nayouf was Editor in Chief of Sawt al-Democratiyya (Democracy’s Vote) and Secretary-General of the Committee for the Defence of Democratic Freedom. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1992 for disseminating “false” information. His sentence is due to expire in nine months.
WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom worldwide. Its membership includes 67 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 93 countries, 17 news agencies and eight regional and worldwide press groups.
