Defend International Issues Urgent Appeal for Abducted Archbishops, Calls for Global Mobilization on Kidnapped Civilians
Oslo, September 23, 2015 – Defend International (DI) has issued an urgent global appeal calling for the immediate and unconditional release of two high-ranking archbishops kidnapped in Syria. The organization formally requests that sovereign governments, international parliaments, and multilateral bodies mobilize all available diplomatic, legal, and humanitarian pathways to secure their freedom and safeguard all civilians held in conflict zones.
On April 22, 2013, Archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim of the Syriac Orthodox Church and Archbishop Paul Yazigi of the Greek Orthodox Church were abducted near the Turkish border. The archbishops had traveled to the region on a humanitarian mission to negotiate the release of two previously kidnapped priests. Despite ongoing efforts by Defend International and its regional partners, no verifiable information regarding their fate has been obtained.
“The absolute absence of any verified sign of life from the archbishops deepens our gravest concerns,” stated a DI representative in Syria, speaking under condition of anonymity for operational security. DI urgently calls on the international community to help ascertain their welfare and ensure they receive immediate monitoring visits from authorized international inspectors.
🕊️ Executive Call to Action: Dr. Widad Akreyi
Founder of Defend International, Dr. Widad Akreyi, has directly urged local, regional, and international authorities to exhaust all humanitarian and diplomatic strategies to resolve the crisis.
“We remain profoundly concerned over the ongoing captivity of these two courageous archbishops,” Dr. Akreyi stated. “The systemic escalation of abductions within conflict zones represents a severe fracture inside an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis. The archbishops have endured profound hardships, and their families continue to face immense suffering due to this prolonged, painful uncertainty.
We appeal directly to all sovereign governments, parliaments, the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), non-governmental organizations, and all entities committed to human rights and global justice to:
1. Issue a unified global declaration demanding that the abductors release the archbishops immediately and unconditionally.
2. Deploy all diplomatic, legal, and operational mechanisms at their disposal to accelerate their safe return.”
🛑 Systemic Threats to Civil Society in Conflict Zones
Defend International notes that humanitarian aid workers, religious leaders, human rights defenders, journalists, legal professionals, and academics in Syria and Iraq face persistent exposure to harassment, systematic intimidation, threats, enforced disappearances, and unlawful abductions.
DI demands the immediate cessation of these acts and the unconditional release of all civilians held unlawfully across conflict-torn regions. Even amidst active warfare, fundamental humanitarian laws and moral values must be strictly maintained. Human rights are universal and must be defended for all individuals, irrespective of religion, race, nationality, or identity framework.
🌐 About Defend International
Defend International (DI) is an independent, multi-disciplinary global platform dedicated to the promotion, protection, and structural tracking of human rights, public health security, and fundamental freedoms worldwide.
For more information, to request interviews, or to send vital information about the archbishops please contact: media@defendinternational.org
Image Credit: Archbishops’ Official Media Archive
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