The deterioration in human rights conditions in Syria during this last year is the worst yet since 2000

Syrian Human Rights Committee found that human rights conditions in Syria suffered “fundamental setbacks,” considered the worst since Bashar Assad assumed the presidency five years ago, according to the fifth annual report issued by SHRC covering the period of early June 2004 to late May 2005.

The report, which is due on Monday June 27th 2005, is forty pages long. SHRC worked hard every year on releasing the report on June 27th of every year, which coincides with the anniversary of the Palmyra (Tadmur) Massacre that claimed a thousand victims of political prisoners in the notorious Tadmur prison in 1980. The Defense Brigades forces, led by Refaat Assad are accused of being responsible for executing the massacre that has its anniversary on Monday June 27th, just like they were accused in other massacres like the Hamah Massacre of 1982.

The report is in fifteen chapters, the last of which is an addendum covering political prisons in Syria, and documentation of torture methods, as well as biographies of some of the characters responsible for torturing political prisoners in Syria.

Crackdown against those who demand liberties:
At the same time the committee recorded an increase in the number of groups defending human rights, and an upsurge in related activism, the authorities still deny issuing permits to such groups under the “association laws” and does not acknowledge their presence legally. At the same time, the authorities exercised greater pressure against human rights groups to intimidate them and discourage their activities. A group of activists was exposed to detention and a new phenomenon of kidnapping activists right off the street surfaced. Prominent attorney activists were referred to be tried by the State Security Court, while many others were banned from travel outside the country. In general, travel bans denials of the issuance of passports, and repetitive requests for appearance at a security apparatus branch included tens of thousands of human rights activist, political opposition members, and former political prisoners. The Syrian authorities suppressed sit-ins carried out by human rights, liberties activists and various political currents activists, but the authorities utilized members of the “Student Union”, Baath Party, and Revolution Youth Union to attack the opposition with sticks and knives, while civilian-dressed security apparatus forces secured the scene for the attackers. The Syrian Security Apparatus, in its quest to terrorize and muzzle voices of members of the opposition, activated other mechanisms like the unleashing of “mobs” connected to influential families at activists. Opposition members, and their sons were fired from their public sector jobs unjustly for reasons pertaining to failure to attain a security clearance, which are considered a requirement for any public sector job in Syria.

Political Imprisonment:
On another front, SHRC expressed its belief that the Syrian Authorities is holding more than 3000 prisoner for political or security-related reasons, who are spread across prisons and interrogation centers. There are still hundred of detainees and abductees since the early eighties of the last century. Despite the various announcements made on the Syrian Arab News Agency about the release of waves of detainees and explicitly naming them as political prisoners, it as discovered that the security apparatus still held off the release of many of them, and on top of that, many former political prisoners were re-detained as well.

In any case, former political prisoners are still stripped of their civil and political rights as citizens. They are not allowed to travel abroad, or return to their job posts, if they were government employees that is, and they are not allowed to receive any charitable assistance. They are also required to visit periodically security forces centers or intelligence branches to be pressured to collaborate with these apparatus and to be forced to conduct write-ups implicating their acquaintances, friends and family.

The period covered by the report witnessed a large number of arrests and detentions amongst returning exiles and forced immigrants who fled the country during the bloody events of the eighties. Some returned after settling their files through the Syrian Embassies or through communications with “specialized authorities” in Syria, but the vast majority were detained upon landing at airports or crossing the border into Syria.

In addition to that, the “State Security Supreme Court” resumed its prosecution of those returned exiles, who were accused of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood and issued three death sentences based on Law number 49, which was issued in 1980, which imposes the death sentence for mere membership of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, then were commuted to twelve years. Just days before the issuing of this report, the same court issued a fourth sentence of death, which was commuted to six years on Mosaab Hariri (17 years of age), who was only 14 years old when he was arrested three years ago after he returned from Saudi Arabia for being accused of membership in the Muslim Brotherhood, despite the insistence of his attorney and family that he has no relation whatsoever to the Muslim Brotherhood. Mosaab’s two brothers were tried by the same court last year but were released. All three brothers are thought to be prosecuted due to their father’s membership in the Muslim Brotherhood group.

It is worth mentioning that the above mentioned court and other exceptional courts lacks the most basic standards and qualifications of a fair trial.

The Syrian Authorities still arrests all Syrians who fled Iraq, who were accused of membership in the M.B. group, but released opposition Baathists, like former president Mohamad Amin Al-Hafez.

There are still tens of thousands of voluntary and involuntary exiles for over 25 years or more due to the repression witnessed during the decade of the 1980’s and security pursuits that did not conclude till this very moment. The exiles and deportees propagated to include three generations up till now, fathers, sons and grandsons. The authorities continued to deny civil rights for all three generations. In March, the State Department issued instructions to grant all exiles and deportees passports and travel documents for two years only, but only very few were issued so far. Syrians deported by other countries were detained upon arriving to Syria. At least two cases were documented; One of a Syrian deported by Britain after refusing to grant him political asylum, and another for a Syrian deported from the United States for violating his immigration laws. Beside that, scores of Syrians who headed to Iraq in 2003 to face the US invasion were arrested though the Syrian regime authorities encouraged them to do so and facilitated their way into Iraq, just to be arrested upon returning.

Despite the signing of the International Agreement for the Ban of Torture in 2004, torture is still paramount in Syria prisons and it is practiced in a methodical way according to a routine against political prisoners and others who may have committed various felonies, and it did not exclude juveniles or children in various Syrian prisons. SHRC documented at least 13 Syrian Citizens who died under torture last year, including 11 Kurds.

Disappearances of Abductees:
The vanished detainees count near 17000 of Islamist prisoners, who were abducted since the late seventies and early eighties of the twentieth century. This number is considered is the lowest number possible based on mining into the testimonies of former detainees and cross-referencing the testimonies with field research carried out by SHRC, which led to the confirmation of identities of 4000 missing detainees, while others could not be documented for the fear of their families and/or special circumstances that prevented their identification. There are some Palestinian detainees, as well as hundreds of Lebanese detainees, out of which, 197 of them were identified.

The Syrian security authorities made a habit of following the policy of corporal punishment of family members and friends of political foes and detainees. The methods and techniques of punishment varied from memorandums to appear to Intelligence and Security interrogation centers, or facing arrest for mere asking about the fate of detainees and missing abductees.

Abandonment of Syrian Detainees Abroad:
There is a number of Syrian Citizens detained abroad. The Syrian authorities never attempted to inquire about their status nor request their release. There are 14 detained Syrians in Libya for attending a study ring for a Sophist religious group for almost 11 years, while a Syrian laborer was murdered when he was beaten by Libyan police interfering in a simple dispute between the laborer and a Libyan citizen, who had connections with the Libyan police. In Iraq there are 33 detained Syrians, who are Syrian exiles in Iraq, who committed not a single violation of the Iraqi laws. The Guatanemo Bay detention prison there are many Syrians, without any formal charges. In Israeli prisons, many Syrian residents of the Occupied Golan Heights are imprisoned. In Spain, 24 Syrian citizens have been detained for a long time, despite their obvious innocence of the charges against them (links to Al-Qaeda), but it was found that Syrian authorities was instigating against them rather than inquire about their conditions or demand their release.

Kurdish Status following March 12th 2004:
The problems of Kurds faced complications after the events on March 12th 2004. Tens were killed during riots following a soccer match between two teams from Qamishli and Dair el Zor. Detainees numbered in the thousands. The authorities release waves of the detainees, but it kept a few hundred to put on trial, and a number of them were sentenced to prison, despite presidential pardon that included 312 Kurdish detainees, only 160 were actually released.

Of the noticeable incidents is the abduction of the famous clergy Shiekh Mohamd Mashuq Al-KHaznawi on May10th 2005, just to have his corps delivered to family showing evidence of torture. The authorities were accused of being implicated in responsibility for the death.

Several Kurdish Citizens serving the army were killed in their army units, and in December 2004 reports surfaced about torture and lack of dignified treatment for Kurdish detainees in Adra prison. A number of Kurdish detainees died as a result of torture on the hands of Intelligence forces.

It is worth mentioning that Kurds are still banned from practicing their heritage or cultural rights, unlike all other ethnic minorities in Syria. A quarter million of them are still without citizenship, despite talk by the regime on intending to grant 100,000 Kurds the citizenship they lack, but no action was taken till the date of this report.

Journalistic and Media Freedoms:
“Reports Sans Borders” organization classified Journalistic Freedom in Syria as one of the worst in the world. Syria came at number 155 out of 167 states.
The government still controls media outlets and political magazine and journals. Thought it granted some licenses for classified ads papers or social or sports related magazines, it reneged and closed a number of them invoking a law of 2001 that allow the prime minister to withdraw the license for printed periodicals based on a suggestion from the minister of information without showing any cause for the decision. Journalists were subjected to abuse and suspension of work or even arrest. Memorandums summing a number of them to security centers are still an occurrence.

Censorship and tight control of the Internet are still on. Hundred of web sites are blocked for political reasons, especially if the sites are Syria-concerned. The new phenomenon of “Internet detainees” surfaced, where people were detained for using the Internet. A number of sentences of prison were issued for periods between two and four years.