Syrian Mazen Darwish receives human rights award in prison

Mazen Darwish, a prominent Syrian human rights defender and Director of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) has received the Bruno Kreisky award for services to Human rights in 2013, a year after he was arrested and imprisoned in Damascus, Syria for his activities as a human rights defender

Previous recipients of the Bruno Kreisky Human Rights Prize which is awarded every second year to an international figure who has advanced the cause of human rights, include Nelson Mandela,  Benazir Bhutto and Lula da Silva.

From prison, Mazen Darwish has released a speech in response to his award. He said:

“From Baghdad to Budapest, Lebanon to Prague and from Vietnam to the two Koreas, I have learnt that there is nothing good in war except its ending, and from the victims of wars to the victims of racial indiscrimination in South Africa, to Rwanda and Bosnia to the victims of tyranny in our Arab world and Franco and Pinochet and the Greek colonels, I have learnt that the road to democracy is as far from the path of extremism and terrorism as it is from dictatorships and tyranny.” Read the full speech here.

On 16 February 2012, Mazen Darwish, Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM)  was arrested along with colleagues during a raid on their Damascus offices by officers from Air Force Intelligence (AFI) who were assisted by a group of plain-clothed armed men, according to a statement from the SCM. While several have been conditionally released, they still have to report to the detention centre regularly for further interrogations. Mazen Darwish’s arrest and that of his colleagues was related to their peaceful activities as human right defenders, bloggers and journalists. Mazen Darwish now faces terrorist charges.  Meanwhile, the SCM continues to play a key role in gathering and getting out information about daily developments in Syriaas international journalists have only limited access to the country.