Syrian Blogger Tal Al-Mallouhi Goes on Hunger Strike on the 2nd Anniversary of Her Arrest
In a statement the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression received, 20 year-old Syrian blogger Tal Al-Mallouhi has declared an open-ended hunger strike yesterday 27/12/2011 “in request for freedom,” as stated in a statement she wrote.
Blogger Tal al-Mallouhi was arbitrarily detained by state security on 27-12-2009, neither the reasons for such arrest nor the place she was taken to had been disclosed. Family member were not even allowe to visit her.
After an international campaign launched by human rights activists demanding the immediate disclosure of the fate of the young blogger. Syrian authorities did eventually disclose the place of her custody in late 2010. Al-Mallouhi was transferred to the State Security Court which sentenced her to five years in prison in February 2010 on charges of disclosing information to a foreign country.
In the statement mentioned earlier, the blogger declares an open-ended hunger strike and calls for her release and says that she suffers from a deterioration of her health and psychological conditions. Below is the full statement:
Two years after my arrest, two years of suffering from the bitterness of despair, chained from freedom along with the defamation of my reputation, two whole years of physical weakness, and now it is the time to end it all .
Today I am declaring starting an open-ended hunger strike calling for my freedom and hoping to put an end to the tragedy of my arrest and the deterioration of my health and psychological state.
I hereby call upon your conscience to help me put an end to my agony and sufferings of my arrest.
Tal al-Mallouhi
Tuesday 27-12-2011
Adra Central Prison for Women
Al-Mallohi’s lawyer, Mr. Khalil Matoouq, indicated that “the blogger’s case wasn’t considered by a competent, fair and public court that meets the international standards of fair trial, which had a significant impact on society as well as on her personal reputation as a blogger. Therefore, we emphasize the necessity to submit her case for retrial, especially since the verdict issued by the Supreme State Security Court has not been approved by the competent authority- the military governor’s deputy.”
The Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression expresses its deep concerns over the deteriorating health condition of blogger Tal Al-Mallouhi after learning that she suffers from digestive problems and malnutrition.
The Center calls for Mallouhi’s immediate release especially that she was arrested arbitrarily and has not been taken to a public trial before an ordinary court that meets legally and constitutionally the standards of a fair trial granted in the Syrian law, also, since the state of emergency and the Supreme State Security Court have both been abolished in Syria.
