Cairo 27 April 2011    The Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR) condemns the arrest of prominent human rights activist, Eng.
Rasem Al Attasi, member of the Board of Trustees of AOHR and its former chair in Syria.
Mr.
Al Attasi was arrested by the Syrian authorities on Wednesday 27 April 2011 in Homs, north of the capital Damascus.
  The military public prosecutor issued an arrest warrant against Al Attasi for 'inciting for riot'.
This act aims to scare off human rights defenders in Syria.
It comes amidst the escalated and systematic violations of human rights in a hopeless attempt to weaken the will of the Syrian people who call for political and legislative reform to achieve their rights to freedom, dignity, and justice.
  The AOHR activists in Syria monitored the attempts of security authorities to fabricate charges against Al Attasi.
The security forces compelled two young men from Homs to confess under torture that Al Attasi instigated them to riot during the protests that took place in Syria.
The investigative authorities refused to record the statements of the two young men in which they asserted that information was obtained from them under torture.
The authorities also refused their requests for a medical examination to prove the physical signs of torture on their bodies, which resulted from torture.
  The AOHR addressed Mrs.
Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and called her to intervene to protect Al Attasi and other human rights defenders in Syria.
A large-scaled campaign started to pursue human rights defenders to prevent them from disclosing grave human rights violations committed against the Syrian people in the context of preventing people from exercising their right to peaceful assembly by the Syrian authorities.
  The AOHR calls on the Syrian authorities to promptly release Al Attasi whose detention represents part of a series of violations against the human rights defenders.
The AOHR asserts that such repressive acts will not get to the spirit of human rights defenders and will do the Syrian regime any good.
* * * For more information please contact: Alaa Shalaby Executive Director – Member, Board of Trustees Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR) 91 Merghani St.
, Heliopolis, Cairo 11341 Egypt Tel +202 24181396 Fax +202 24185346 Mobile +2 010 6488987 Ala.
shalaby@hotmail.
com – Aladinchalabi@yahoo.
com www.
aohr.
net