Hero

Mazen Darwish

Human rights lawyer Mazen Darwish’s voice ceased to be heard more than two years ago in the Syrian hell that has already consumed more than 150,000 lives. He and his two assistants at the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), Hussein Ghareer and Hani Al-Zitani, are being held on terrorism charges because of their peaceful commitment to freedom of expression and information. Subjected to torture, mistreatment and denial of medical attention since their arrest on 16 February 2012, they are now being held in the central Damascus prison pending trial. Winner of the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Prize in 2012, Darwish had already been arrested by Bashar Al-Assad’s police three times in the past. But, as he said at the time, “no prison is big enough to contain free speech.”

Published on