Mr. Ismail Abidi was arrested on August 23, 2010 at the Aleppo airport by the airport security forces, allegedly ordered by the National Security Department. Mr. Abidi has been living in Germany for thirteen years, and obtained the German nationality in 2007. He had travelled to Syria to visit his family, and was arrested while he was waiting for his plane to go back to Germany. His wife and children were allowed to fly back to Europe.
Since his arrest, Mr. Abidi’s family asked the National Security Department of the Qamishli governorate (the region Mr. Abidi comes from) for the reason for his arrest. The security forces pretended to ignore Mr. Abidi’s existence, and requested his family not to ask anymore questions about him.
Mr. Ismail Abidi’s whereabouts remained unknown as of today.
FIDH denounces the arbitrary arrest and disappearance of Mr. Ismail Abidi, which seem to aim merely at sanctioning his human rights activities.
FIDH further fears for Mr. Abidi’s physical integrity, as he suffers from several chronic diseases, such as asthma, oesophagus inflammation and migraine. FIDH calls upon the Syrian authorities to take prompt action in order to disclose his whereabouts and to immediately and unconditionally release him, as well as all human rights defenders arbitrairly detained in the country. These events further illustrate the situation of extreme insecurity faced by civil society activists in Syria.
FIDH further calls upon the authorities to guarantee, in all circumstances, the physical and psychological integrity of all activists and to ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the international human rights instruments ratified by Syria. FIDH recalls in particular, the recommendation made by the UN Committee against torture in May 2010, asking the Syrian authortities to “implement effective measures to ensure that all detainees are afforded, in practice, all fundamental legal safeguards from the very outset of their detention”.