Free Maryam Kallis

To: The British Government
We, the undersigned, petition the British Government to take action to release British citizen Maryam Kallis held in detention in Syria.

Here is why were requesting your petition:

Maryam Kallis arrived in Syria from the UK on 5th March 2009 and had been staying with her sister before her arrest on 15 March 2009. She had returned to Syria to collect her three children, who were staying in Damascus with her sister and who are aged between five and eight years. She intended to return with them to London at the end of March but was arrested by around 10 men in plain clothes in the Rukna al-Din area of Damascus. She was with her eight-year-old son at the time and was taken back with him to her sisters apartment, where her passport and those of her children were confiscated. She was then taken away to detention.
Her family fear for her safety in a country where the use of torture is known to be widespread.
Mr Kallis and his wife moved to Damascus in 2002, enrolling for a year's study at the Abi Noor Institute of Arabic. He says they chose to remain because the climate improved the health of one of their children, who is disabled. The children are now aged between five and 12.
The US state department says the country's security forces are responsible for "numerous, serious human rights abuses", while Amnesty International has documented 38 forms of torture, which it says are often used to extract confessions that are "systematically" used by the country's courts.
The Syrian authorities have now given consular officials from the FCO access to Mrs Maryam Kallis on two occasions. However they have not provided any details on why they are holding her or when she will be released.



To learn more, please email us at [email protected]
Sincerely,