20-Year-Old Syrian Female Activist Beaten In Egypt

20-Year-Old Syrian Female Activist Beaten In Egypt
On Eve Of Geneva Testimony at UN Rights Council

20 NGOs urge top UN officials, US & EU to speak out

GENEVA, Feb. 23 - A 20-year-old Syrian activist who is about to testify before the UN rights council in Geneva was beaten in her Cairo apartment today. Hadeel Kouki, whose full story is described in the dispatch below by the blogger Ahed Al Hendi, was invited to address a March 13th gathering of dissidents—the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy—and to address a session of the UN Human Rights Council, which opens on Monday.

"We urge High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, the UNHRC president, the U.S. and EU delegations to the UN to condemn this brutal act of violence against a young human rights defender on the eve of her testimony before the UN. The Egyptian government must be called upon to fully protect Ms. Kouki, and Syria's thugs must be held to account," said the 20 NGOs.

Statement On Behalf Of: Collectif Urgence Darfour, Darfur Peace And Development Center, Directorio, Democratico Cubano, Free The North Korean Gulag, Freedom And Roam Uganda, Human Rights Foundation, Human Rights Without Frontiers Int’l, Ingénieurs Du Monde, Initiatives For China, Inter-African Committee On Traditional Practices Affecting The Health Of Women And Children, International Federation Of Liberal Youth, Ligue International Contre Le Racisme, Stop Child Executions, Tibetan Women Organisation-Switzerland, Uighur American Congress, Un Watch, Viet Tan And The World Uighur Congress.

For interviews or more information, contact:
Arielle Herzog Hadida, Coordinator
Email: secretariat@genevasummit.org

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Syrian youth activist Hadeel Kouki recevies death threats at her apartment in Egypt

Published February 23, 2012
By Ahed Al HendI
Update: Urgent

Less than half an hour ago, a group of thugs entered Hadeel Kouki’s apartment and beat her up badly

20-year-old Syrian activist, Hadeel Kouki, has just recived a peice of paper signed by Assad’s thugs to her apartment in Cairo.

Kouki was jailed in Syria three times for nearly 52 days. Even after her release, Kouky was wanted by Syrian intelligence for her role in transporting medical aid to injured protesters in Idlib. Kouki’s friends advised her to leave the country, so she was smuggled to Turkey and later to France to attend a conference on Syria. Kouki now lives in Egypt and she is one of the few young Christian actvisits who isn’t afraid to speak out against Bashar Assad.

Today, Kouki called me in a panic and crying. She didn’t know what to do. She locked the house and blocked her door.

The content of the message she received was “We are going to displine you like dogs, you traitor, even if you hide on Mars, Assad’s Shabiha will get you. We know all of your activities and we got the green light from your relatives. Your beautifull face will be burned by acid.”

Hadeel’s life is in grave danger. Assad’s agents have the ability in Egypt to hurt her just as the wife of a Syrian activist was kidnaped recently in Egypt and later found on the street.

Assad’s regime might target Hadeel for many reasons. In addtion to her role in helping protesters on the ground, Hadeel’s background as a Christian might harm Assad’s lie of trying portray the uprising as a conflict between armed islamic gangs and a secular regime. Assad is working hard to silence any Christian voices against him.

The neighboorhood where Hadeel lives in Cairo houses lot of Syrian embassy employees. This is known by their thugish behaviour in March 17, while Syrian activists were protesting infront of the Syrian embassy in Cairo, a group of employees attacked and beat them

The video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFS1Lby2IYE

Here is an article in The Daily Beast about Syrian embassy thugs in Cairo
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/03/17/syrian-protesters-attacked-by-regime-thugs-in-cairo-thx.html?cid=hp:beastoriginalsL2

To read more about Hadeel Kouki’s story read this story:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/ahed-al-hendi/syria-dissidents_b_1244088.html

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Geneva Summit NGO Coalition:

United Nations Watch
American Uighur Association
Collectif Urgence Darfour
Darfur Peace and Development Center
Directorio Democratico Cubano
Freedom and Roam Uganda
Human Rights Activists in Iran
Human Rights Foundation
Human Rights Without Frontiers
Ingénieurs du monde
Initiatives for China
Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children
International Federation of Liberal Youth
Ligue International Contre le Racisme et l’Antisémitisme
Stop Child Executions
Viet Tan
World Uighur Congress
Tibetan Women Association-Switzerland
Zimbabwe Advocacy Office
Free the North Korean Gulag

ENDS

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