In a statement, the jury paid tribute to him as “a man of an exceptional courage, arbitrarily detained in unacceptable conditions for defending the rule of law and the right to organize a human rights organization.”

President of the Syrian human rights organization
The brave lawyer Muhannad Al-Hassani has long defended human rights and challenged the repressive laws that Syria’s government has imposed.

He is President of the Syrian Swasiya human rights organization, one the country’s leading human rights organizations. In the past six years, the Syrian authorities denied them to register as an official organization.

Al-Hassani was arrested on 28 July 2009 and was prosecuted according to Paragraph 286 of the Syrian Penal Code for “weakening national feeling” and for “spreading false news”. Al-Hassani was detained and is due to appear in court in Damascus on May 27 again.

Held in harsh conditions
He is being held in Adhra prison and reported to be in very poor condition. He is detained together with 70 other prisoners in a very small prison cell and is denied access to proper medical care.

Damascus branch of the Syrian referee association declared November 2009 that rest of his life Al-Hassani will be refused permission to practice as lawyer.

Hassani has been invited to collect the award at a ceremony in the Swiss city of Geneva on October 15, but Syrian authorities have imposed a travel ban on him for the past six years. His office and all communication has been under constant surveillance by authorities.

Human rights groups in Syria last month called on the country’s interior ministry to remedy the “harsh and discriminatory” conditions of jailed opposition figures.

Ennals award
The Ennals award, named after a British activist and founder of Amnesty International, was set up by ten of the biggest human rights advocacy groups including Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and the International Federation for Human Rights.

Previous laureates include Chinese dissident Harry Wu in 1994, Syrian rights activist Aktham Naisse in 2005 and Iranian death penalty opponent Emad Baghi in 2009.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists are among groups on the jury. The awards ceremony is to take place in Geneva on October 15.