Syria: FREED - Abdul Rahman Koki released

Wednesday, 17 February 2010 08:37

Alkarama has just learned that Abdul Rahman Koki was released following a Presidential
pardon yesterday, Tuesday, 16 February 2010. Sheikh Koki was arrested on 22 October 2009
upon his return from Qatar where he took part in Faisal Qassem's Al-Jazeera debate program
"The Opposite Direction".

On 10 Feburary 2010 Abdul Rahman Koki was sentenced to one year imprisonment on
charges of "offending the authority of the State and insulting the President of the republic",
amongst others. However, the sentence was most likely due to his political and religious views.

Alkarama has been closely following his case since late October 2009 and originally submitted
his case as an urgent appeal to the Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT) and the Special
Rapporteur on the Freedom of Expression on 2 December 2009. Seeking further intervention,
Alkarama sent his case to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) on 13 January
2010.

Alkarama takes this opportunity to remind the Syrian authorities of their responsibility towards
international human rights law and that they release all prisoners of conscience.

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