Continued arrests of Kurdish college students in Syria

It has been reported by Kurdish Organization for Defending Human Rights and Public Freedoms in Syria – DAD, and Human Rights Organization in Syria – MAF, that Hussein Muslim Jarrad has been detained by a security service, however there is no information available about the reason for his arrest. He is a year 2 civil engineering student from Aleppo.

DAD and MAF strongly condemn Hussein Jarrad’s arrest, and we are deeply concerned about his fate. We call for these arbitrary arrests that take place outside the law to be stopped, as they are a flagrant violation of fundamental rights and freedoms that have been guaranteed by the permanent constitution of Syria in 1973, and also under the State of Emergency and Martial Law that has existed in Syria since 8 March1963.

This arrest constitutes a violation of Syria’s commitments under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ratified on 12 April 1969 and brought into force on 23 March 1976, and specifically Articles 9,14, 19, 21 and 22 as the arrest was in clear violation of the Declaration of Defenders of Human Rights, adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution of the United Nations no. 52/144, dated 9 December 1988, specifically Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

We demand the immediate release of Hussein Jarrad, and of all prisoners of conscience who are held in the Syrian prisons and other parts of the detention system. We call for the end of arbitrary detention, which is a crime against freedom and personal security, also the abolition all laws and legislation arising from the state of emergency and martial law.

Kurdish Organization for Defending Human Rights and Public Freedoms in Syria – DAD, and Human Rights Organization in Syria – MAF

16 May 2010