PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 24/044/2007 _ 12 September 2007
UA 242/07 Incommunicado detention/ fear of torture or ill-treatment/ possible prisoner of conscience
SYRIA - Kareem 'Arabji (m), aged 29,
Kareem 'Arabji has been held incommunicado by Military Intelligence in the capital, Damascus, since his arrest on 7 June. Amnesty International believes that he is now being held at the Palestine Branch of Military Intelligence in Damascus, where he is at grave risk of torture and ill-treatment. He may be a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful expression of his political views.
According to information received by Amnesty International, Kareem 'Arabji, a business consultant, is being detained for his role in managing an online youth forum, www.akhawia.net. Prior to his arrest he was summoned several times to the al-Muntaqa (Area) Military Intelligence branch in Damascus in relation to the online forum. Since his arrest he has not been charged or otherwise brought before a court and has not been granted access to a lawyer or to his family.
In June 2007, seven men were sentenced to prison terms of either five or seven years after an unfair trial, apparently for publishing pro-democracy material on the same website. They were convicted of taking action or making a written statement or speech which could endanger the State or harm its relationship with a foreign country, or expose it to the risk of hostile action under Article 278 of the Syrian Penal Code. The group all said that confessions had been extracted from them under torture while they were detained incommunicado (see UA 41/06, MDE 24/019/2006, 17 February 2006, and follow-ups.)
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Torture is widespread in Syrian detention and investigation centres, particularly during periods of pre-trial incommunicado detention, and the Palestine Branch is renowned for being one of the worst centres for detainees. Over the years, Amnesty International has documented 38 types of torture and ill-treatment used against detainees in Syria. Confessions extracted under duress are systematically used as evidence in Syrian courts, and the defendants claims of torture are almost never investigated. In 2007, according to reports received by Amnesty International, at least three individuals have died as a result of torture and ill-treatment in custody in Syria.
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