Law Society president statement of support for Syrian human rights lawyer Razan Zeitouneh
Law Society president statement of support for Syrian human rights lawyer Razan Zeitouneh
Nicholas Fluck, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, has issued a statement of support for Razan Zeitouneh, a Syrian human rights lawyer who was working at the Violations Documentation Centre (VDC) and was abducted along with three colleagues in Damascus on Tuesday 10 December by masked men.
Nicholas Fluck said:
'Razan Zeitouneh and her colleagues were carrying out vital work in Syria, uncovering violations of human rights by both sides. Their unlawful detention prevents them from carrying out their professional duties and places them in danger of physical injury and possibly death.
'To uphold the freedom of individual and practising members of the legal profession and to comply with Syria's international legal obligations, it is imperative that Ms Zeitouneh and her colleagues are found and released.'
Razan Zeitouneh, her husband Wael Hamada, Samira Khalil, and Nazem Hammadi had been documenting abuses by all sides in Syria, at the VDC, which Razan Zeitouneh founded. She also co-founded the Local Coordination Committees (LCC), a network of civilian local groups that organizes and reports on protests, and the Local Development and Small Projects Support Office (LDSPS), which aims to help provide basic needs and support medical centres. Her work attracted anger and threats from both the government and opposition groups alike.
Syria, among other nations, remains committed to upholding the principles laid out in the UN Declaration of Human Rights. We draw your attention to Articles 3 and 9 which state:
Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 9: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
In addition, Article 16 of the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers states:
Governments shall ensure that lawyers are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference.
Syria acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) on 21 April 1969.
Article 19 states:
Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.
Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.
