To the free of the world

To the human rights activists and organisations

To the figures of science and intellect

To those who carry good hearts all over the world

We call upon you all to positively participate in collaborating with the prisoners of conscience in Syria.

In the dawn hours of the 27th of June, 1980, ten helicopters landed near Tadmur prison which lies in the eastern region of Syria, and 100 soldiers from the defence brigades ascended from the aircrafts lead by high ranking officials from the same units, entered the prison and killed all prisoners of conscience without exception.

On that day, there was a group of Syria’s elite, politicians, writers, poets, intellects, scholars, lawyers, doctors, engineers as well as simple workers and farmers. There were also children whom had not outgrown their early teens and elderly whom had approached seventy years old. There were also individuals whom had been taken as hostages or substitutes for their relatives who were being sought by the regime. Trusted testimonies of eye witnesses and documented statements of executioners declared that 40 minutes was all it took to execute 700 prisoner, including those whom had to be killed after only being severely wounded initially.

The Central Committee for Solidarity with the Prisoners of Conscience in Syria, was astounded and devastated by this unprecedented massacre, and holds information regarding the deplorable conditions of prisoners of conscience in Syrian prison cells, particularly in the isolated Tadmur prison, where thousands of prisoners remain severed from the outside world and having to endure the worst of conditions. These prisoners are prevented from their right to contact their relatives and to be visited. They have no health nor civil rights or liberties nor indeed, do they have any right for a just and fair trial. It is a fact that many of these prisoners have served the sentences that were handed out to them by the Syrian court-martials, yet they remain lurking in their cells whilst others are considered as ‘missing persons’.

In view of these facts, our Committee has declared the 27th of June a World Day of Solidarity with the Prisoners of Conscience in Syria, and calls upon all our colleagues within the different and various human rights organisations and groups, as well as all those who strive for the sake of good around the world, intellects, writers and people of letters...to participate with our Committee in bringing this day to the attention of all.

We hope that all concerned will work towards pressing the Syrian regime to free all prisoners of conscience, or at least set fair and just trials which would guarantee their rights in a sincere and open hearing.

Our Committee also requests that the Syrian government allows a delegation formed of figures representing human rights groups, to investigate into the facts surrounding the prisoners’ conditions inside Syrian cells and to contact their relatives so that the humanitarian issue can be fully and comprehensively addressed.

The Committee is also closely informed of the conditions of many displaced Syrians currently living outside their homeland and prevented from their basic civil rights such as issuing personal identity documents, registering marriages, births and deaths as well as the right to return to their country.

Our Committee repeats its call upon the free of the world to work towards ending the suffering of the prisoners of conscience in Syria, and calls upon all those whom work towards establishing good in our world today and the media to co-operate with us in bringing this humanitarian issue to the attention of all.