Published : 10-11-2018
Palestinian writer Ali Sa’id Shehabi has been locked up in Syrian state jails for the sixth year running.
AlShehabi, an English instructor at a UNRWA school, was last kidnapped on December 17, 2012. In 1974, he was arrested for the first time and jailed for nine months in AlMezzeh military prison. In 1982 he served a 10-year sentence on account of his affiliations with the anti-government Syrian Communist Party.
AlShehabi was re-arrested in 2006 and imprisoned for another seven months over charges of attempting to establish a political party and signing the Beirut-Damascus declaration, a statement signed in 2006 by Lebanese and Syrian activists and intellectuals who called on the Syrian government to correct its relationship with Lebanon and to respect Lebanon's independence and sovereignty. The declaration also called for an end to political killings in Lebanon.
Since its publication on May 12, 2006, many of the Syrian signatories have been fired from their jobs and have been subject to persecution. BBC reported that seven opposition figures were jailed for signing it.
Prior to his abduction, Shehabi had been taking shelter in Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian refugees.
Palestinian writer Ali Sa’id Shehabi has been locked up in Syrian state jails for the sixth year running.
AlShehabi, an English instructor at a UNRWA school, was last kidnapped on December 17, 2012. In 1974, he was arrested for the first time and jailed for nine months in AlMezzeh military prison. In 1982 he served a 10-year sentence on account of his affiliations with the anti-government Syrian Communist Party.
AlShehabi was re-arrested in 2006 and imprisoned for another seven months over charges of attempting to establish a political party and signing the Beirut-Damascus declaration, a statement signed in 2006 by Lebanese and Syrian activists and intellectuals who called on the Syrian government to correct its relationship with Lebanon and to respect Lebanon's independence and sovereignty. The declaration also called for an end to political killings in Lebanon.
Since its publication on May 12, 2006, many of the Syrian signatories have been fired from their jobs and have been subject to persecution. BBC reported that seven opposition figures were jailed for signing it.
Prior to his abduction, Shehabi had been taking shelter in Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian refugees.
