The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) and the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders - a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) - today strongly condemned the decision of the Second Military Court of Damascus to convict Mr. Haytham Al-Maleh, a 79 years old prominent Syrian human rights lawyer, and to sentence him to three years’ imprisonment. This conviction was ordered on the grounds of “transferring false and exaggerated news that weaken national sentiments”, under Articles 285 and 286 of the Syrian Criminal Code. The charges arise from Mr. Al-Maleh’s interviews with the media in which he criticized, amongst other things, the continued use of the emergency laws in Syria and the ongoing control of the Syrian authorities over the judicial system.
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