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Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders

 

 

 

- BREAKING NEWS -

The 2010 Laureate, Muhannad Al-Hassani from Syria, has been sentenced to 3 years imprisonment for having reported on legal proceedings before the State Security Court. In doing so, Mr. Al-Hassani has committed no crime and done nothing but defending the rights of others. Having spent almost a year in pre-trial arrest, it is hoped that a presidential pardon will rectify this injustice.

The 2009 Laureate, Emad Baghi, has been released from detention – on bail – after having spent 6 months in very difficult conditions. The MEA and the 10 organizations on the Jury are very pleased by this development but express the hope that the Iranian authorities will now continue to respect Emad Baghi’s right to freedom of expression and release the other human rights defenders still in detention.


The main award of the international human rights movement in 2010
goes to a Syrian human rights defender lingering in prison

 

Press release
 Communiqué de Presse
Comunicado de Prensa
Pressekommuniqué
‎بيان صحفي باللغة العربية


Friday 7 May 2010

The Jury of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA), meeting in Geneva,
announces its Laureate for 2010

Muhannad Al-Hassani, a Syrian lawyer who has bravely defended human rights and challenged the oppressive legal framework imposed by the Syrian government. He is the President of the Syrian Organization for Human Rights (Swasiya), a leading human rights organisation that has been denied official registration by the Syrian authorities for the past six years. Al-Hassani was arrested on 28 July, 2009 for allegedly having reported on the notorious State Security Court. A judge charged him under Article 286 of the Syrian Penal code, with "weakening national sentiments," and "spreading false news." Al Hassani was detained and is expected to appear again in front of a Damascus criminal court on 27 May 2010. He is being held in Adhra prison and reported to be in very poor condition. He is detained together with 70 other prisoners in a very small prison cell, and is denied access to proper medical care. In an appalling demonstration of servility to the Government, the Damascus Section of the Syrian Bar Association, on 10 November 2009, made a ruling prohibiting him from practicing law for the rest of his life. Al-Hassani has come under increasing and undue pressure merely as a result of carrying out his lawful professional functions. He has been subjected to a travel ban over the last six years. His office and all communications have been under constant surveillance by Syrian security forces for the past six years. The Chairman of the Jury of the MEA, Hans Thoolen, describes the laureate as “a man of an exceptional courage, arbitrarily detained in unacceptable conditions for defending the rule of law and the right to organise a human rights organisation”.


Mr. Muhannad Al Hassani (Syria)

The Ceremony of the Martin Ennals Award will take place in the Victoria Hall of Geneva on 15 October 2010.

The main award of the human rights movement. The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA) is a unique collaboration among ten of the world’s leading human rights organizations to give protection to human rights defenders worldwide.  The Jury is composed of the following NGOs: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, International Federation for Human Rights, World Organisation Against Torture, Front Line, International Commission of Jurists, German Diakonie, International Service for Human Rights and HURIDOCS.

Previous laureates : Emad Baghi, Iran (2009); Mutabar Tadjibaeva, Uzbekistan; Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, Burundi and Rajan Hoole-Kopalasingham Sritharan, Sri Lanka; Akbar Ganji, Iran and Arnold Tsunga, Zimbabwe; Aktham Naisse, Syria; Lida Yusupova, Russia; Alirio Uribe Muñoz, Colombia; Jacqueline Moudeina, Chad; Peace Brigades International; Immaculée Birhaheka, DR Congo; Natasha Kandic, Yugoslavia; Eyad El Sarraj, Palestine; Samuel Ruiz, Mexico; Clement Nwankwo, Nigeria; Asma Jahangir, Pakistan; Harry Wu, China.
For downloadable film images on the MEA and previous laureates please go to www.media4heroes.com.

Patrons of the Martin Ennals Award: Asma Jahangir, Barbara Hendricks, José Ramos-Horta, Adama Dieng, Leandro Despouy, Louise Arbour, Robert Fulghum, Theo van Boven and Werner Lottje†.

 
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