'''Tuhama Mahmoud Ma’roufMa'rouf''' (born 1964) is a [[Syria]]n dentist who was detained from February 2010 to June 2011 for her involvement in the banned [[Party for Communist Action]] (PCA) in the early 1990s. [[Amnesty International]] designated her a [[prisoner of conscience]], "detained solely for the peaceful exercise of her right to freedom of expression and association".<ref name=AI />
==Arrest and imprisonment==
Ma’roufMa'rouf was originally detained in 1993 for her involvement with the PCA, along with eight other female activists.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE24/010/1993/en/71b21918-ec32-11dd-8d9d-a7825928c0bf/mde240101993en.html |title=Further information on UA 292/93 (MDE 24/07/93, 26 August 1993) Fear of torture/legal concern |author= |date=2 December 1993 |work= |publisher=[[Amnesty International]] |accessdate=24 January 2012}}</ref> The arrests were part of a general crackdown on the party which effectively destroyed it.<ref name=USNAS />
She was then found guilty and sentenced ''[[in absentia]]'' on 5 November 1995 by the [[Supreme State Security Court]] (SSSC) of violating Article 306 of Syria’sSyria's Penal Code, "membership in a secret organization which aims to change the economic and social status of the state".<ref name=AI /><ref name=USNAS /> However, for unknown reasons, authorities did not arrest her to begin her sentence until 6 February 2010 in [[Aleppo]].<ref name=USNAS>{{cite web |url=http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/humanrights/PGA_066616 |title=Case Information |author= |year=2012 |work= |publisher=Committee on Human Rights of the [[US National Academy of Sciences]] |accessdate=24 January 2012}}</ref> Three days later, she appeared before the court and was ordered to be transferred to [[Adra prison]] to serve her sentence of six years' imprisonment.<ref name=AI>{{cite web |url=http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE24/009/2011/en/36f5634c-0998-4d39-83fd-e8ae56a8c014/mde240092011en.html |title=Urgent Action: Female Political Prisoner on Hunger Strike |author= |date=4 March 2011 |work= |publisher=[[Amnesty International]] |accessdate=23 January 2012}}</ref> On 18 February 2011, she began a [[hunger strike]] to demand a transfer to a woman's prison.<ref name=AI />
Amnesty International protested her imprisonment and called for her immediate release,<ref name=AI /> as did the Committee on Human Rights of the [[US National Academy of Sciences]],<ref name=USNAS /> the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dchrs.org/english/news.php?id=162&idC=2 |title=Female Political Prisoner on Hunger Strike |author= |date= |work= |publisher=Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies |accessdate=24 January 2012}}</ref> and [[Human Rights Watch]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,HRW,,SYR,,4ce247331e,0.html |title=Syria: Transfer Women Out of Male Prison |author= |date=12 November 2010 |work= |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]] |accessdate=24 January 2012}}</ref>
