Anwar Al-Bunni

Status: Political prisoner

Born in Hamah in 1959, Anwar al-Bunni is a married father of 2 sons and a daughter, and a prominent Syrian human rights lawyer. Following the arrests of his older brother Youssef in 1977, and then his sister Sahar and brothers Kbrahim and Akram in 1978, Mr. Bunni chose to be a lawyer to defend political prisoners. He graduated from the faculty of Law at Damascus University in 1985, the same year that his two brothers, Akram and Youssef, and his sister Sahar were re-arrested.

Since finishing law school, he has worked on the cases of political prisoners and has been threatened many times with arrest. In July 2001 he participated in the establishment of the Human Rights Association in Syria, and was subsequently elected as a member of its board in 2003. At the beginning of 2005 he participated with others in establishing the Freedom Center for the Defense of Journalists and Journalism in Syria as its spokesperson.

Mr. Bunni was arrested on May 17, 2006 by the State Security Court with 9 other activists who were signatories of the Damascus-Beirut Declaration. He has been charged according to Article 286 of the Syrian Penal Law which stipulates the temporary detention of: 1) a person who transferred news that he knows is false and could weaken nationalist sensibilities and 2) that the person is entitled to receive a 3 month relief on his detention if he thought the information to be true.

On April 24, 2007, Mr. Bunni was found guilty of "spreading false or exaggerated news that weakens the spirit of the nation" by the First Damascus Criminal court. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison for this crime, and he was ordered to pay $2,000 to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor for being a member in an unlicensed human rights organization.

Reports indicate that he has faced ill-treatment at Adra prison and has been beaten by other criminal prisoners with whom he cohabitates.