The Syrian Journalist Shaza Alamaddad is re-arrested
Security Departments Authority in Syria is Above the Law
SCM-Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression
July 14th 2013 – On July 10th 2013, investigative judge of anti-terrorism court approved to release on bail of five thousand SYP the Syrian Journalist “Shaza Almaddad” (born in Deir Ezzor, 1984), after he rejected several requests of release on bail.
On July 11th 2013, Adra “central prison of Damascus” administration said to Shaza’s family who came to take her, that they have not received yet the telegram of her release, issued by the judge.
On July 13th 2013, when Shaza’s family came back to “Adra” Jail to take her, Adra administrations said to them that one security department has arrested her again form Adra Prison-women section on July 11th.
Shaza Almaddad was arrested on November 2nd 2012 by the local department of State Security Administration in Damascus, after she was called several times for investigation in that department. They called her first time when she came back from USA, after she spent one month there for Woodrow Wilson Center’s Visiting Arab Journalist Program, the second time was after she quitted her job for the electronic website of Damas Post, protesting the website policy in covering the Syrian Revolution, her last call was on November 2nd when they arrested her because of a status she posted in her Facebook page according to her family.
On March 11th Alamddad with six political prisoners stood before the judge of anti-terrorism court who decided to release all but her to be judged later.
Almaddad worked in several independent newspapers and website, like Baladna, Alwatan, Alkhabar newspapers and All for Syria and Damas Post websites.
The re-arrest of Shaza Almaddad by another security department raises strong concern about her safety in particular and the fate of other prisoners of conscience especially the media activists, Where Almaddad has been re-arrested after eight month of detention that she spent in security departments and Adra prison-women section.
We, SCM condemn the practices of security departments that override the rule of law and even the rule of anti-terrorism court which is an exceptional court certified by the Syrian president Bashar Alasad on June 25th 2012 after days of issuing the terrorism law and after few months of lifting the emergency law which ruled Syria for decades.
We call upon the Syrian government to immediately and unconditionally release the Syrian journalist Shaza Almaddad and to secure her physical and mind safety, and to impose the rule of law over any other security authority.
Civilians, media workers and peaceful activists in Syria are facing forced disappearance, arbitrary detention and the worst danger of death under torture in security forces that killed many of them, for we, SCM lost our colleague the peaceful activist and doctor Ayham Ghazoul (1987-2012) who died under torture and his corpus is not delivered to his family until this moment, they also face the risk of anti-terrorism court sentences that could reach life imprisonment, like the head of SCM Mazen Darwish and our two colleagues Hani Zetani and Hussen Ghrair, in addition to the scary exceptional field military court, now the media workers and peaceful activists faces the risk re-arresting arbitrarily even from Adra, the central prison of Damascus though they are to be released legally.
