JOINT PUBLIC STATEMENT
A year on, no information on Douma Four
The prominent Syrian human rights defenders Razan Zaitouneh, Samira Khalil, Wa'el Hamada and Nazem Hamadi – the Douma Four—remain missing a year after their abduction, 57 organizations said today. The four were abducted in Duma, a city near Damascus under the control of armed opposition groups. They should be released immediately, the groups said.
On 20 November 2014, Alkarama and Human Rights Guardians sent a communication to the United Nation Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID), regarding the cases of two Syrian citizens disappeared from the village of Al Lataminah, in the Governorate of Hama.
On 20 November 2014, Alkarama and Human Rights Guardians sent two communications to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID) concerning the cases of a 32 year-old Syrian citizen from Latakia, AbdulLatif Sabbagh, disappeared since his arrest over two years ago, and of 33 year-old activist from Damascus, Abdel Qader Ali Deib, also disappeared since his arrest in January 2014. Both are known for their peaceful political activism during the Syrian revolution, and to this day, none of their families are aware of their fates and whereabouts.
On 20 November 2014, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT), Juan Méndez, to bring to his attention the case of Bader Tossi Khorasani, a 25-year-old Iranian citizen born in Syria where he lived all his life, who faces imminent deportation to Iran where he could be subjected to further torture or even the death penalty.
On 13 November 2014, Alkarama solicited the intervention of United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, Michel Forst with the Syrian authorities to ensure the immediate release of two Syrian human rights defenders, Jadia Abdallah Nawfal and Omar Al Shaar, who went missing after their arrest at the Syrian Lebanese border on 31 October.