After spending more than three years in prison, prominent human rights activist Mazen Darwish was released Monday from prison pending a final verdict in his case later this month, Darwish’s wife said, according to Agence France Presse (AFP).
Advertisement
The State Department called for all charges dropped against Darwish, the director of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) who was arrested in February 2012 along with two of his colleagues. Darwish’s colleagues Hussein Ghreir and Hani al-Zaitani were released last month in an amnesty announced as a gesture for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. The organization confirmed that Darwish was released but is scheduled to attend a court hearing at the end of the month.
The AP reports Darwish was imprisoned for his reporting on President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on protesters during the early days of an uprising against the presidency, which later became a full-blown civil war. Recordings of Mazen Darwish in English are also included in the video. Darwish and his colleagues had been accused of promoting “terrrorist acts”.
Amnesty Worldwide stated Darwish ought to by no means have been jailed within the first place and referred to as on the federal government to halt its marketing campaign concentrating on those that dare converse concerning the “appalling human rights violations” in Syria.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in February described the case of Darwish and two other members of his organisation detained at the same time as emblematic of the plight of activists, lawyers and human rights defenders targeted by government forces and militias without due process. The Committee to Protect Journalists tweeted today, “We’re relieved to hear Mazen Darwish was released”.
But after a government crackdown, the demonstrations spiralled into a violent conflict that has killed more than 240,000 people. All charges against him should now be dropped.
His wife accepted the award on his behalf, saying it was dedicated to his children in the hope they would grow up in a free Syria. The joint statement came on the third anniversary of their arrest.
Advertisement
In April, Darwish won the UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Prize in recognition of the work that he has carried out in Syria “for more than 10 years at great personal sacrifice, enduring a travel ban, harassment, as well as repeated detention and torture”. He is also victor of the Reporters Without Borders award in 2013.
