Syria: Activist Rima Dali Arrested in Damascus for Calling for End to Killing

UPDATE: 10 April: Friends have confirmed that Rima Dali was released at 2 pm on Tuesday. Saffana Baqle and Assem Hamsho, who were with her at the time of the arrest, are still missing. Two other activists, Ali Dahna and Hussam Zein, were arrested today for holding the same banner during a sit-in near Qasr el-Adli, in Damascus.

9 April: To protest Rima´s detention and that of all Syrians imprisoned since the beginning of the regime´s brutal crackdown against all forms of opposition, activists have opened a Facebook page called “Stop the killing. We want to build a country for all Syrians” , where they call on people from Damascus to concentrate in front of the Parliament at 6 pm (the time when Rima held the banner calling for an end to killing):

لنعلن كلنا رفض الموت و قتل سورية كل يوم ,غدا الساعة 6 مساءا امام البرلمان لاشعار لا لافتات لا علم
فقط الجميع يحضر لافتة حمراء مكتوب عليها باللون الأبيض : أوقفوا القتل نريد بناء وطن لكل السوريين
To protest against the daily death and killing of Syria, we will gather in front of the Parliament tomorrow at 6 pm. With no slogans, no signs, no flags. Only a red banner reading in white letters: “Stop the killing. We want to build a country for all Syrians”

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“Stop the killing. We want to build a country for all Syrians.” These were the words on the banner that Rima Dali held in front of the Syrian Parliament in Damascus on Sunday, April 8. Activists say she was arrested right after that. The following video shows Rima bravely holding the banner in front of cars while a group of women applaude her gesture.

Activists have denounced her arrest and that of Saffana Baqleh, who was with Rima at the time of her arrest. Saffana was arrested for trying to stop the authorities from taking Rima.

Rima Dali in a candle-lit vigil for Syrian martyrs in Damascus. June 2011. Image source: Facebook

 

Rima Dali, 33, is from the port city of Latakia. She graduated with a degree in Law at the University of Aleppo. She is currently a Training and Capacity Building Associate for the United Nations Development Program and a volunteer with the Red Crescent. She is well known for her work on the campaign “Homs is in our hearts” to bring humanitarian aid to Homs.

Quoting Martin Luther King, this was Rima's last update on her Facebook profile:

“The means we use to achieve our goals must be as pure as our goals”

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