Aktham Naisse (28 December 1951 - 05 February 2022) was a Syrian lawyer and human rights activist, president of the Committees for the Defence of Democratic Liberties and Human Rights (CDDL-HR), which he helped found in 1989.

Life

Born in

Latakia , coordinates = , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = 11 , elevation_ft = , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , area_code = Country code: 963 City code: 41 , geocode ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, Aktham Naisse studied in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

before returning to Syria. He was first arrested in February 1982, when he was held for four months and tortured. In 1989 the CDDL-HR formed an underground publication, ''Sawt al-Dimuqratiyya'' (The voice of democracy). In 1991 the group called for

free elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative ...

, leading to Naisse's arrest in December 1991. In 1992 he was tried and sentenced to 9 years imprisonment in

Sednaya prison Sednaya Prison ( ar, سجن صيدنايا ''Sajn Ṣaydnāyā'') is a military prison near Damascus in Syria operated by the Syrian government. The prison has been used to hold thousands of prisoners, both civilian detainees and anti-governmen ...

. Released in July 1998, Naisse was not subsequently permitted to practice law.Michael R. Fischbach, 'Naisse, Aktham (1951–)', ''Biographical Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa'', 2008
Reprinted online
by

HighBeam HighBeam Research was a paid search engine and full text online archive owned by Gale, a subsidiary of Cengage, for thousands of newspapers, magazines, academic journals, newswires, trade magazines, and encyclopedias in English. It was headquart ...

. Accessed 20 March 2013. After

Bashar al-Assad Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...

came to power, the CDDL-HR issued a public declaration on 10 December 2000. In August 2003 Naisse was questioned and threatened by military security. The committee posted a public letter on the Internet, calling for the lifting of the

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

. On 8 March 2004 they led around 700 demonstrators in a peaceful sit-in in front of the

Syrian parliament The People's Assembly ( ar, مَجْلِس الشَّعْب, ) is Syria's legislative authority. It has 250 members elected for a four-year term in 15 multi-seat constituencies. There are two main political fronts; the National Progressive Fro ...

building in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

. Naisse and one hundred others presented the parliament with a petition against the state of emergency, signed by over 7,000 people. On 13 April 2004 Naisse was arrested and returned to Sednaya prison. There he suffered a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

, leaving him partially paralysed. He began a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

, and was released on bail pending trial on 16 August 2004. After international appeals on his behalf, the court acquitted him on 26 June 2005.

Awards

Naisse won the ninth Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Award in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

in October 2004. He won the 2005 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.Syrian Human Rights Defender, Aktham Naisse, Winner of 12th Martin Ennals Award
Accessed 20 March 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naisse, Aktham 1951 births 2022 deaths Syrian dissidents Syrian human rights activists 20th-century Syrian lawyers People from Latakia 21st-century Syrian lawyers