SHRC’s media spokesman has described the statement made by President Bashar al-Asad in a press conference on Wednesday 4/6/2008 at the end of his visit to Kuwait as contradictory. “In a time in which Syrian Intelligence and defence apparatus are arresting anyone who is suspected to be a member or supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, or who is even related to a member, and sentencing them to death according to law 49/1980. President Bashar’s declarations come to add more vagueness and fogginess to the reality of the Syrian regime’s position on issues of freedom, at the crux of which lies the sufferings of the Muslim Brotherhood.” 

The spokesman added that, “the misleading statements made by President Bashar al-Asad have led to the arrest of tens of citizens who believed and trusted what the president had said. However upon their arrival to Syria they were immediately arrested at the borders or upon their arrival to Damascus Airport, realising that the statements made by the President were indeed laid out as a trap to catch them out.”

The spokesman also described SHRC’s monitoring of tens of cases in which exiled individuals would settle and normalise their cases with Syrian embassies only to be arrested upon their arrival at Syria where law 49/1980 would be imposed upon them, even though many of them are not members of the Muslim Brotherhood. The spokesman cited the latest sentences passed upon Ismail al-Sheikha and Abdul-Hay Chalabi as examples.

 “As for the prisoners of the 1980s who have been released,” added the Spokesman, “they have not been allowed to resume their normal lives. Despite the statements made by the President, ex-detainees are stripped of their civil rights and denied their rights to return to their governmental posts that they worked in prior to their detainment. Ex-detainees are required to make periodic and regular visits to the military Intelligence branches, which employ all kinds of pressures against them. The overwhelming majority of them are forbidden from travelling. Therefore, the president’s declarations do not reflect the reality of what is really taking place.”

The spokesman concluded his remarks by calling upon the President Bashar al-Asad to repel law 49/1980 and release all prisoners detained on the basis of this law, in addition to all prisoners of conscience and thought. He also called upon the Syrian Authorities to reveal the fates of those who disappeared as well as to put and end to all arbitrary and oppressive arrests and allow all Syrian exiles to return to their country without being subjected to arrest and imprisonment. The spokesman also repeated his advice to exiles in advising them not to return to Syria until a clear decision has been made regarding this issue, its results are transparently implemented, and the intelligence and defence apparatus stop involving themselves in the lives and fates of citizens.

Syrian Human Rights Committee
5/6/2008

Background:
Towards the end of his visit to Kuwait on Wednesday 4/6/2008, President Bashar al-Asad declared that his regime had a good and strong relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Jordan and Palestine. However, with relation to the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, he asserted that negotiations had been initiated previously and that some leaders and other members have returned to Syria where they are living normal lives. He also added that Syria is open to whoever wants to return to the country; however the regime will not deal with them as a party, but as individuals.