DCMF Calls for Immediate Release of Journalists Detained in Syria

Doha, July 16 (QNA) - Doha Centre for Media Freedom (DCMF) has reiterated its call for Syrian authorities to release journalist Mazen Darwish and all other journalists detained in Syrian prisons. Syrian authorities are still holding Mazin Darwish, the head of Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, in solitary confinement in the interrogation section at Air Intelligence headquarters in Damascus. Detained since February 16, Darwish is critically ill and is denied visitors, medical and legal assistance. DCMF reiterates its appeal to Syrian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release him along with all other journalists in their custody. Syrian Human Rights League expressed deep concerns about Darwish's continued arrest, pointing out that "his continued detention in solitary confinement in spite of his deteriorating health is a flagrant violation of all international human rights conventions, especially articles 22 and 24 defining minimum rules for prisoner treatment as well as provision of medical care. It is also in clear breach of the chapter seven of the fundamental principles issued by the UN in 1990, governing the treatment of prisoners and calling for the need to deploy efforts to scrap solitary confinement sentence or limit its use." (QNA)