Close Menu
    Facebook Instagram LinkedIn
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • English
    • Français (French)
    Facebook Instagram LinkedIn
    Middle East Transparent
    • Home
    • Categories
      1. Headlines
      2. Features
      3. Commentary
      4. Magazine
      Featured
      Headlines General Kenneth F. McKenzie, Jr.

      The Poisoned Chalice: President Trump’s Opportunity with Iran

      Recent
      27 June 2025

      The Poisoned Chalice: President Trump’s Opportunity with Iran

      26 June 2025

      Post-Attack Assessment of the First 12 Days of Israeli and U.S. Strikes on Iranian Nuclear Facilities

      25 June 2025

      US ambiguity shouldn’t stop work on a two-state solution

    • Contact us
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • English
    • Français (French)
    Middle East Transparent
    You are at:Home»Syria: Peaceful Demonstration Violently Dispersed – 34 Reported Detained, Including Prominent Activists

    Syria: Peaceful Demonstration Violently Dispersed – 34 Reported Detained, Including Prominent Activists

    0
    By Sarah Akel on 17 March 2011 Uncategorized

    (New York, March 17, 2011) – Syria should immediately release all those detained on March 16, 2011, when security services violently dispersed a peaceful protest calling for the release of political activists, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should respect the right of Syrians to assemble peacefully and release all prisoners detained for peaceful political activity or for exercising their right to free expression, Human Rights Watch said.

    A group of about 150 people, most of them human rights activists and relatives of political detainees, gathered outside the Interior Ministry in Damascus at about noon to present a petition calling for the release of Syria’s political prisoners. When the families started raising pictures of their detained relatives, security officers dressed in civilian clothes attacked with batons, dispersing the demonstrators, three participants told Human Rights Watch. Security services detained at least 34 people, according to a list prepared by demonstrators. Human Rights Watch was able to verify independently the detention of 18 people.

    “President Bashar al-Asad’s recent calls for reform ring hollow when his security services still beat and detain anyone who actually dares to call for reform,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of beating families of Syria’s political prisoners, President al-Asad should be reuniting them with their loved ones.”

    A human rights activist who was at the demonstration described what happened:

    When we got to the ministry, we could see that there were a lot of security services around. I saw five buses full of security members parked 300 meters from us. At first, an employee from the Ministry of Interior came out and told us that the families of the detainees would be allowed to present the petition to the minister. We asked for five minutes, as some families were still arriving. When a few families raised photos of detained relatives, the security services suddenly attacked us and beat us with black batons.

    The daughter of a prominent political detainee told Human Rights Watch:

    We had barely taken my father’s picture out when men ran toward us and started beating us. They beat my mother on her head and arm with a baton. They pulled my sister’s hair and beat her as well until my uncle managed to get her away. We started running away, but they followed us.

    One of the people detained during the demonstration, who spoke with Human Rights Watch following his release, said that security services detained him with five others and transported them to the Mantaqa branch of Military Security. The six were: Mazen Darwish, a human rights activist and head of the Syrian Center for Media Freedom of Expression in Syria; Suheir al-Atassi, a prominent political activist; Naheda Badawi; Bader Shalah; Naret Abdel Kareem, and a boy in his early teens whose name was not known. Security services hit Shalah with a baton over his eye, causing bleeding.

    At the Mantaqa branch, the detainee who spoke with Human Rights Watch saw four other detainees from the protest: Kamal Sheikho, Usama Nasr, Nedal Shuraybi and, Muhammad Dia’ Aldeen Daghmash. The detainee said that security services interrogated each person separately, and asked him for the password to his Facebook account. The person who spoke with Human Rights Watch said that as far as he knew, he was the only one released from the group detained at the protest.

    In addition to the confirmed 10 detainees at Military Security, Human Rights Watch spoke with a relative of Kamal al-Labwani, a political activist serving a 12-year jail term, who provided details on the detention of seven members of their family: Omar al-Labwani, 19; Yassin al-Labwani, 20; Hussein al-Labwani, 45; Ammar al-Labwani, 24; Ruba al-Labwani, 23; Layla al-Labwani, 56, and Heba Hassan, 22. Their whereabouts are unknown.

    One of the demonstrators told Human Rights Watch that she saw security services detain a young man from the al-Bunni family as he was trying to get into his car. The young man’s first name is unknown.

    “If President al-Assad is serious about reform, he should hold his security services to account,” Whitson said. “Syrians deserve no less than the Egyptians and Tunisians who finally succeeded in forcing their political leadership to disband the feared state security services.”

    For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Syria, please visit:
    http://www.hrw.org/en/middle-eastn-africa/syria

    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email WhatsApp Copy Link
    Previous ArticleBahrain’s Crisis: Saudi Forces Intervene
    Next Article Bahrain Pulls a Qaddafi (from the NYT)

    Comments are closed.

    RSS Recent post in french
    • Il faut être pour Nétanyahou lorsqu’il affaiblit la menace iranienne ; et ardemment contre lui lorsqu’il détruit Gaza 1 July 2025 Denis Charbit
    • En Syrie, la mystérieuse disparition du corps de Hafez el-Assad 11 June 2025 Apolline Convain
    • En Syrie, après les massacres d’alaouites, la difficulté de recueillir des témoignages : « Je n’ai pas confiance » 5 June 2025 Madjid Zerrouky
    • Guerre en Ukraine : Kiev démontre sa force de frappe en bombardant l’aviation russe avec ses drones, jusqu’en Sibérie 2 June 2025 Le Monde
    • Liban : six mois après l’entrée en vigueur d’un cessez-le-feu avec Israël, une guerre de basse intensité se poursuit 23 May 2025 Laure Stephan
    RSS Recent post in arabic
    • ملف كازينو لبنان: توقيف رئيس مجلس الإدارة رولان الخوري؟ 2 July 2025 المدن
    • عن حبيب صادق.. و”حرب الإسناد” 2 July 2025 سيمون كرم
    • التعميم الأساسي رقم 169 للمصارف ماذا يعني؟: خدمة للمودعين أم للمصارف؟ 2 July 2025 بيار عقل
    • الذات في فلسفة الانعتاق 2 July 2025 محمود كرم
    • عزمي بشارة والملحق العسكري السوري في برلين 2 July 2025 سلمان مصالحة
    26 February 2011

    Metransparent Preliminary Black List of Qaddafi’s Financial Aides Outside Libya

    6 December 2008

    Interview with Prof Hafiz Mohammad Saeed

    7 July 2009

    The messy state of the Hindu temples in Pakistan

    27 July 2009

    Sayed Mahmoud El Qemany Apeal to the World Conscience

    8 March 2022

    Russian Orthodox priests call for immediate end to war in Ukraine

    Recent Comments
    • Giant Squirrel on Holier Than Thou: Politics and the Pulpit in America
    • Edward Ziadeh on As Church awaits a Conclave, President Trump puts up picture of himself as next Pope
    • Victoria Perea on As Church awaits a Conclave, President Trump puts up picture of himself as next Pope
    • Victoria Perea on As Church awaits a Conclave, President Trump puts up picture of himself as next Pope
    • M sam on Kuwait: The Gulf state purging tens of thousands of its citizens
    Donate
    Donate
    © 2025 Middle East Transparent

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    loader

    Inscrivez-vous à la newsletter

    En vous inscrivant, vous acceptez nos conditions et notre politique de confidentialité.

    loader

    Subscribe to updates

    By signing up, you agree to our terms privacy policy agreement.

    loader

    اشترك في التحديثات

    بالتسجيل، فإنك توافق على شروطنا واتفاقية سياسة الخصوصية الخاصة بنا.