Journalist near death in Syrian prison
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release: **Updates IFEX alerts of 1 April 1999, 29 September, 17 September and 10 September 1998, 11 October and 27 January 1995** Paris, 4 October 1999 For immediate release Journalist Near Death In Syrian Prison Syrian journalist and democracy advocate Nizar Nayouf is near death in prison […]
Journalist released
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has learned that Qaiss Darwish was released on 29 August 1999 from Seydnaya prison, under the amnesty decreed by President El-Assad, issued on 12 July for his fifth term as president of the Syrian Republic. A journalist for the periodical “Al-Ka’ayda”, Darwish had been jailed since his arrest in August 1984, charged […]
CPJ protests banning of “Al-Quds al-Arabi”
(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 30 June 1999 letter to Syrian President Hafez al-Asad, CPJ protested the banning of the London-based daily “Al-Quds al-Arabi” in Syria on 29 June. **Updates IFEX alert of 29 June 1999** On 29 June, Abdel Bari Atwan, the newspaper’s editor in chief, received a faxed letter from the government-run Syrian Distribution […]
Daily “Al-Quds Al-Arabi” banned from Syria
(RSF/IFEX) – In a 29 June 1999 letter to President Hafez Al-Assad, RSF protested against the Syrian Information Ministry’s banning, on 29 June, of the London-based Palestinian daily from entering the country. RSF asked President Al-Assad “to allow Al-Quds Al-Arabi into Syria, in order to favour press freedom.” According to information gathered by RSF, this […]
International Day of Support for Torture Victims
(RSF/IFEX) – On 24 June 1999, RSF issued a report entitled “Burma, Sudan, Syria and Turkey: torture as a form of repression”. A synopsis and the full text of the report follows: Nine journalists were tortured by the Turkish police in 1998. Another suffered the same fate in March 1999. In Syria, 11 journalists languishing […]
RSF concerned for detained journalist
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is expressing concern over the situation of a detained journalist in Syria. RSF has learned that Adel Isma’il was allegedly arrested in 1996 upon his arrival to Syria from Algeria. RSF does not know if he has been tried. He is currently allegedly jailed in Seydnaya. RSF is very concerned about this […]
Syrian journalist may die in prison
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release: **Updates IFEX alerts of 29 September, 17 September and 10 September 1998, 11 October and 27 January 1995** Paris, 1 April 1999 For immediate release Syrian Journalist May Die in Prison The World Association of Newspapers has appealed to the Syrian government to release journalist Nizar […]
Ten journalists still jailed as of 8 March 1999
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF report: **Updates IFEX alert of 10 March 1999** Ten journalists still jailed as of 8 March 1999 Nizar Nayyuf, winner of the 1998 RSF Fondation de France award, a freelance journalist, contributor to the weekly “Al-Huriyya” and the magazine “Al-Thaqafa Al-Maarifa”, and a member of the Committee for […]
Journalists tortured in Syria
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF press release: Journalists tortured in Syria Press freedom does not exist in Syria: no independent media are allowed. The country is at war with Israel, and a state of emergency has been in force since 1963, giving the security forces exceptional powers and continuously restricting citizens’ basic freedoms. […]
CPJ calls for release of Syrian journalist Nizar Nayyouf; imprisoned editor gravely ill, in desperate need of medical treatment
(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ released the following statement on 29 September 1998: **For more information on this case, see IFEX alerts of 17 and 10 September 1998** In a letter hand-delivered today to Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Sharaa, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urgently appealed to the Syrian government to release Nizar Nayyouf, the imprisoned […]
Human Rights Watch pushes for prisoner’s immediate release
(HRW/IFEX) – Human Rights Watch on 15 September 1998 called for urgent action to save the life of imprisoned Syrian dissident Nizar Nayouf, a 36-year-old writer and human rights activist suffering from Hodgkin’s disease in a Damascus military prison. **For background, see IFEX alert of 10 September 1998** “We are deeply concerned that Nizar Nayouf […]
Suffering from cancer and denied treatment, journalist Nizar Nayyouf in danger of dying
(RSF/IFEX) – Nizar Nayyouf, the 43-year old Editor-In-Chief of the monthly “Le vote de la Démocratie”, sentenced in 1992 to ten years of forced labour, has, for the last several months, been suffering from Hodgkin’s disease (leukaemia), which is a curable form of cancer if it is treated with chemotherapy in its early stages. According […]
ARTICLE 19 calls on French president to remind Syria of its international obligation to respect freedom of expression
(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – On 8 July 1998, ARTICLE 19 sent a letter to French President Jacques Chirac in advance of the state visit, on 16 and 17 July, of Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad. The letter accompanied a copy of a recent report by ARTICLE 19, titled Walls of Silence: Media and Censorship in Syria. In […]
Stifling free expression adds to political and economic dangers, according to ARTICLE 19 report
(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The stifling censorship imposed by Syria’s authoritarian government is adding to the political and economic dangers already facing the country, according to a report published released by ARTICLE 19. “Walls of Silence: Media and Censorship in Syria” is the latest in a series of reports on media law and practice in the […]
Continued concern for detained journalist and human rights activist Nizar Nayouf
In a letter to Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, Human Rights Watch has called for the release of Nizar Nayouf, a 34-year-old writer, journalist and human rights activist, who is serving a ten-year prison term imposed by the State Security Court in 1992 following an unfair trial. Nayouf has been held in solitary confinement in a […]
Journalists Nizar Nayyuf and Jadi Nawfal enter fourth year in prison
SOURCES: CDF, AI, ICJ, Human Rights Watch/Middle East, various Syrian journalist Nizar Nayyuf was arrested in January 1992 after his wife and three-year-old daughter were reportedly arrested in his place a few weeks earlier. He and fellow journalist Jadi Nawfal are among members of the banned Committee for the Defence of Democratic Freedoms and Human […]