5 years have passed on kidnapping Syrian journalist Razan Zeitouna

Reporters without Borders and other 14 non-governmental organizations of human rights sent a joint letter to the UN on the fifth anniversary of the disappearance of the Syrian journalist and human rights lawyer Razan Zitouna and three of her colleagues, calling for an investigation into their fate.

11 December, 2018 10:15

NEWS DESK

Reporters without Borders reported that journalist Razan Zitouna had been kidnapped along with her three colleagues - Samira Khalil, Nazim Hammadi and Wael Hamada - on 9 December, 2013 from the center of the Violation's Documentation in Duma, a suburb of Damascus controlled by Jaish al-Islam mercenaries at the time. Since then, there has been no information about their fate.

The joint letter calls on the United Nations, all relevant international and regional parties in Syria and all the parties to the Syrian conflict to facilitate an investigation into what has happened to the four human rights defenders.

It is noteworthy that Razan Zeitouna was born on 29 April 1977 and is a Syrian human rights lawyer. She has always practiced humanitarian work in the countryside of Damascus. At the end of 2013, Razan Zitouna was kidnapped along with three other colleagues from her workplace in the city of Duma amid mysterious circumstances. Some have accused the opposition factions of kidnapping them as these factions are who were controlling of the city at that time. While the head of the accused mercenaries are Jabhit al-Nusra and Jaish al-Islam and some have accused the Syrian regime of kidnapping Razan and her colleagues.

ANHA