Thank you for contacting me about the detention of Rafah Nashed in Syria.
I was unable to attend the debate at the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg last week, but I was one of the ALDE (Liberal) group signatories to the Joint Resolution which was subsequently passed.
In this MEPs strongly condemned Rafah Nashed’s arbitrary arrest and detention by the Syrian authorities and expressed grave concern for her welfare, particularly in view of her poor health. We called on the Syrian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Ms Nashed and to return her to her family without delay. The resolution also called more generally for the Syrian regime to allow humanitarian organisations and doctors to treat the victims of violence, and to allow them to carry out their work without restriction or fear of reprisals. The resolution will be forward to the Council, the Commission, High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Secretary-General of the Arab League and the Parliament of the Syrian Arab Republic.
On 23 September 2011 Catherine Ashton issued a statement on Rafah Nashed’s situation expressing her concern and saying her arrest and detention was unacceptable given her precarious health condition. Baroness Ashton called for the immediate release of Ms Nashed and all others arbitrarily detained in Syria, as well as for an immediate end to the repression and violence against the Syrian people.
You may also be interested to learn that the Council recently agreed to tighten sanctions on Syria in view of the repression and widespread human rights violations by the Syrian regime, while ensuring that legitimate trade is affected as little as possible so as not to harm the Syrian people.
The ALDE group has also strongly welcomed the award of the European Parliament’s 2011 Sakharov prize for freedom of thought to the ‘Arab Spring’ represented by the deceased Mohamed Bouazizi from Tunisia, Asmaa Mahfouz from Egypt, Ahmed al- Zubair Ahmed al-Sanusi from Libya and Razan Zaitouneh and Ali Farzat from Syria, see here.
Please be assured that the EU is active in supporting the people of Syria in their fight against the repressive regime.
Yours sincerely,
Sarah Ludford
Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP
Liberal Democrat MEP for London
Liberal Democrat European justice & human rights spokeswoman
36b St Peter's Street
London N1 8JT
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