It has been a while since I last blogged in English. I have been using my Arabic blog on Wordpress in the last year to blog about the Syrian Spring. Anyway, I wanted to share with you my experience visiting the Amnesty International HQ in London last week.
Before I start, I have to tell that I am a member in the Syrian Non-Violence Movement SNVM which is a group of Syrian youths that believe in peaceful struggle and civil resistance as a way to achieve change. One of our biggest projects is called "Freedom Days" which is in co-operation with other non-violent groups. And we participated in organising the biggest strike in Syria "Karamah (Dignity) Strike"
Visit our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/al7rak.assilmi
I was invited to attend the launch of the annual report 2012 of the Amnesty International as a Syrian activist. There was a press conference to launch the report officially and they wanted some activists to be available there to meet the media. This report is one of the most important reports in the world for human rights and it is published in May of each year. What is special in this report is that it is the 50th report of Amnesty and it comes after a significant year in human rights struggle especially in Arab world. Arab Spring was present significantly in the report of this year.
I arrived at the Amnesty HQ in London and met the team who was responsible for this press conference. They introduced me to many other teams in AI. They were all very nice and helpful and they spent some time with me to explain what will happen next. After that I recorded an interview with the Amnesty news writer and it was published on their website titled: Exiled Syrian activist calls for international pressure on Assad. I talked about myself and the Syrian Non Violence Movement. I explained our objectives and how we see things should go in Syria. In addition, I talked about some projects and campaigns that we did till now.
After that the press conference was about to start so we headed to the press room and there I met Salil Shetty the Secretary General of the Amnesty International. I met as well two other activists; one from Ecuador and the other from Zimbabwe who were invited by AI to participate in this conf. We were introduced to the media as example of activists who worked with AI on human rights issues during the last year.
After the press conference I had some interview with the media including CNN, BBC, Euronews and others. I talked about the situation in Syria, about my family and the story of my brothers detention and about the Syrian Non Violence Movement. I talked as well about the International Community and its role in the Syrian situation. After we finished I went to the BBC World Service to record an interview for The World Today programme. Below you can find some of the links to media coverage of this events and my interviews with it.
Amnesty International Website:
CNN Website:
BBC World Service @36:00min:
IPS Inter Press Service new agency:
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107913
http://ipsnews.net/text/news.asp?idnews=108097
Relief Web:
http://reliefweb.int/node/502634
http://ipsnews.net/text/news.asp?idnews=108097
Relief Web:
http://reliefweb.int/node/502634
Catalonia TV 3/24:
CNTV:
http://english.cntv.cn/program/newshour/20120525/105893.shtml
Amnesty International Arabic Version (منظمة العفو الدولية):
ناشط سوري في المنفى يدعو إلى مواصلة الضغط الدولي على الأسد - عمر الأصيل
http://www.amnesty.org/ar/news/exiled-syrian-activist-calls-international-pressure-assad-2012-05-29
Amnesty International Arabic Version (منظمة العفو الدولية):
ناشط سوري في المنفى يدعو إلى مواصلة الضغط الدولي على الأسد - عمر الأصيل
http://www.amnesty.org/ar/news/exiled-syrian-activist-calls-international-pressure-assad-2012-05-29
And couple of interviews which I don't have link to it.
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