In its seventh annual report, the Syrian Human Rights Committee (SHRC) monitored the accelerated deterioration of the status of human rights in Syria on all levels. SHRC stressed that the situation further worsened when the authorities launched a second crackdown that involved the arrest of 40 activists from among the members of the National Council of the Damascus Declaration on the 9th and 10th of December 2007 , after they had held a conference during which they elected a new leadership.
Civil Society and Human Rights Activists
SHRC has confirmed in the report published on 15th January 2008 that “the civil society and human rights activists have been exposed to considerable persecution, harassment, oppression and punitive and vengeful measures. Many of them were detained and sentenced to unfair prison terms, others were prevented from travel and turned back from the border outlets, while some others were dismissed from their jobs. SHRC referred to the campaign against signatories of Damascus-Beirut Declaration which resulted in condemning Michael Kilo and Anwar al-Bunni to harsh sentences, as well as to the crackdown against activists of Damascus declaration so that Ahmad To’mah, Jabr al-Shoufi, Akram al-Bunni, Ali al-Abdullah, Fida’ al-Horani, Walid al-Bunni and Yaser al-Iti were still being detained by the end of 2007
Law 49/1980
The 55 page report, published in A5 format said that the Syrian regime provocatively escalated its crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood Movement, while the Supreme State Security Court (SSSC) continued sentencing to death all the detainees that had been subjected to trial on the charge of being members thereof, according to Law No. 49 of 1980. Twenty four individuals were condemned to death this year because of affiliating to the Muslim Brotherhood. Although the sentences were reduced to 12 year terms, it is noteworthy that most of those against whom the unjust judgments were passed were the children or relatives of members in the Muslim Brotherhood Movement living in coercive exile since the 1980’s. Those exiled individuals returned home after properly referring to their respective Syrian embassies or after promises of pardon given to relatives of theirs referring to the proper security authorities in Syria on their behalf. However, once they arrived in the country they were arrested, subjected to torture and ill-treatment.
The Disappeared
The Dossier of the disappeared is still unsolved. SHRC stated that 17000 Syrian citizens who were detained in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s and whose traces have vanished are still being ignored by the Syrian authorities.
The Exiled
Since the early 1980’s, thousands of Syrian citizens have been living outside Syria coercively because they, their children and grandchildren are subjected to Law No. 49 of 1980, which sentences the members of the Muslim Brotherhood Movement and their supporters to death. The Syrian regime has been trying to pressurise them by using their influence at the government of their countries of residence or through spreading their names as possible terrorists.
Syrian exiles residing in Iraq for the last three decades were exposed, during the period covered by the report, to major dangers that threatened their lives and existence. They were targets for the Iraqi police, the armed militia close to them and the American forces. About 38 of them were killed after their being taken from their houses, their workplaces or from the street. About 23 persons were arrested, forces in the uniform of police attacked some of their houses in Hayfa Street and set on fire 15 houses on 16 January 2007
The families of the exiled which managed to move to other countries, are suffering now of unemployment and poverty, but those who returned to Syria were arrested and tried according to law 49/1980 or with other repressive laws.
On the other hand, during the last summer vacation of 2007, SHRC recorded some images of the sufferings experienced by the families of the exiles, some of whom can visit Syria. They are exposed to lengthy stopping on the land borders and at airports, then are ordered to refer to the intelligence centres. The wife and children are required to give precise information about the husband or father, his biography, life circumstances and social environment. They are usually faced with threats, insults, prevention from travel and return, and sometimes with confinement, detention, ill-treatment and torture.
The Kurds
Throughout the period covered by the report from June 2006 until the end of 2007, the crackdown on the Kurdish activists is going on in all its varieties: detention, presentation to exceptional and military courts, persistence in denying the rights of Kurds as citizens entitled to all their rights, denying their cultural and ethnical rights which the Regime awards to other ethnic groups living in Syria and suppressing any of their claims even through the use of violence and shooting against them.
Many of them were presented to exceptional courts charged with ready accusations made to measure, such as affiliation to a secret organisation and the endeavour to split part of the Syrian land to annex it to a foreign country.
The Islamists
The Islamists who have Salafi trends or the Tahrir Party and others have been targeted in an unprecedented way since Bashar al-Asad assumed the presidency of Syria, whereas the Shiites visiting the country have enjoyed great facilities in building centres and Shiite mosques and practicing various activities. SHRC also monitored the campaign of the Syrian security authorities to support some persons who tried to arouse the religious feelings of the citizens under the slogans of Jihad (holy war) and opposing the occupants. Some of those who went there were killed; those who survived to return were promptly detained by the intelligence authorities and sentenced to several years in prison, deprivation of their civil rights and were fined.
Arbitrary Detention
Arbitrary detentions go on in Syria widely in villages, towns and cities, targeting whoever opposes the Regime and whoever is suspected of opposing it. In reality, the majority of arbitrary detentions do not have access to mass media and human organisations, particularly when the case is related to religious individuals, for they are secretly detained at night, and their families, who are threatened of detention and punitive measures, are reluctant to release the news.
Arab Detainees
Apart from the dozens of Arab citizens arrested while visiting Syria during this period, there are hundreds who are already been languishing in the Syrian detention centres, not to mention those hundreds who disappeared in the same way as their Syrian detained fellowmen had disappeared three decades before.
Some Saudi citizens visiting the country to spend a holiday and visit their relatives or get medically treated were arrested and accused of affiliating to the Wahabi school of thought and Islamic orientations, or detained because of being suspected of attempting to sneak into Iraq or practising immoral actions. It turned out that most of the detention cases took place with the intention of blackmailing by supported corrupt security personnel.
As to the Jordanian detainees in the Syrian prisons, reports refer to the existence of 215 detainees, while other reports claim that the number of the Jordanian detainees in Syrian prisons may be 1000. SHRC believes that many of the Jordanian detainees that were arrested in the 1980’s have disappeared in the prisons; they were either hanged or died under torture.
Lebanese human rights organisations ask the Syrian authorities to disclose the fate of 850 detainees that were arrested during the period of the Syrian presence in Lebanon.
Moreover, dozens of Palestinians and Iraqis were detained this year. Nothing is mentioned about them because of the silence of the Syrian intelligence authorities and the fear of the detainees' families of the consequences of disclosing the detention of their loved ones.
Torture and Ill-Treatment
Torture is widely practised on a systematic and routine basis in the Syrian interrogation centres, jails and prisons. Torture is intensified, diversified and coloured according to the detainee, his accusation and the degree of his cooperation with interrogators. Those detained because of their Islamic tendencies usually receive the worst portion of torture, and while the security and intelligence apparatuses degrade their integrity extensively, many international human rights organisations show no interest in highlighting their cases and defending them.
In considerable cases torture leads to death, but the authorities do not acknowledge that. When the corpse of the detainee is handed over to his family, they are told not to open the coffin and to bury it promptly, while the report of the prison's doctor explains out the death as the result of a "sudden heart attack. SHRC documented at least four cases of death under torture during this period in addition to ten cases of death because of shooting on the part of the authorities against protesting citizens or arbitrarily.
Supreme State Security Court
Supreme State Security Court (SSSC) in Damascus has passed hundred of judgements, out of them 24 against individuals accused of affiliation to Muslim Brotherhood in addition to scores of other judgements against Islamists, political and human right activists. It is regarded among the most serious violations of human rights in the country due to the absolute jurisdictions that it enjoys.
Vigils
The security forces have pursued a new method to prevent vigils and sit-ins, such as detaining those heading for the sit-in and beating them, or detaining them temporarily and transferring them to distant areas in the outskirts of Damascus to disperse the participants in the vigil and preventing it.
Media Freedoms
Mass media in Syria are restricted in respect of licensing and the freedom of publication. Official mass media are still dominant in all fields. As to the majority of the magazines and newspapers that started to be published in the country during the few past years, they are void of political subjects, and overwhelmed by social issues, with the exception of some mass media that are owned by influential figures. Others were compelled to cease after its official broadcasting.
The restrictions extend to cover the new media, i.e., the websites. The list of blocked websites is increasingly expanding. Prohibition does not involve only political or opponent websites but it covers some non-opponent websites. The Syrian authorities have issued strict instructions to the owners of Internet cafes requiring that they keep precise information about their visitors, including the identity of the persons so that they will be liable in case they browse prohibited websites.
Elections in Syria
The report mentioned that 2007 had seen three election events; Parliamentary elections in April, a referendum on the President in May and local government elections in August, all of which saw the absence of proper democratic measures and standards because the Ba’th party and its allies monopolise the majority. No one is allowed to nominate themselves to presidency, as nominations can only be made by the higher strands of the ruling Ba’th Party which has a complete monopoly over state and society
Although the authorities carried out a number of measures in order to raise the number of voters, SHRC have noted that they have been forcing voters to cast their votes on working days and checking ID of government employees to show that they will be punished if they have not voted, numbers have failed to rise above the 10% mark in all three election campaigns..
SHRC also documented that a number of citizens were arrested after the referendum on the President and disappeared in a variety of prisons and interrogation centres after casting a ‘no’ vote in the referendum. A number of journalists who covered the referendum were attacked by security officials and were ordered out of the country immediately. Authentic reports told SHRC that a large number of cases in which ID cards (lost or replaced) were issued in order to ensure dubious castings.
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Syrian Human Rights Committee
London - 15/1/2008 |