The Supreme State Security Court (SSSC) sentenced four Islamist detainees to prison on Sunday 25/3/2007. The sentences are as follows:
-Yasin Nafi' al-Sayel (1977) from al-Jurzy in Deir al-Zour province was accused of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood and sentenced to death pursuant to law 49/1980. His sentence was then reduced to twelve years in prison with hard labour.
-Muhannad Haitham Labani was accused of being a member of a secret organisation that aimed to change economic and social structure of the state, and was sentenced to seven years in prison.
-Mohammed Mahdi al-Najjar and Marwan Mohammed al-Shareef were accused of being members of a secret organisation that aimed to change the economic and social structure of the state, and were subsequently sentenced to four years in prison.

The SSSC had also sentenced Ali Anwar Hussein Hamada to seven years in prison on 18/3/2007. He was accused of belonging to a secret organisation that aimed to change the economic and social structure of the state, and to weaken patriotic feelings among the citizens. Ali Mohammed Fatih Mulqi was also charged with the same accusation due to a website he created as a project for his degree and was sentenced to six years in prison. Ali Omar al-Mutlaq was accused of attempting to create sectarian tension and was subsequently sentenced to two years in prison.

The Syrian Human Rights Committee (SHRC) reiterates the fact that these sentences severely violate the human rights of Syrian citizens, denying them from freedom of expression, freedom to assembly and belonging to society or party that they wish to join and freedom of creed. This is taking into consideration that the Syrian constitution guarantees these rights as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international conventions.

SHRC also confirms that the SSSC is not legally specialised to deal with any case it is presented with, and is in fact no more than another device among many for the use of the Syrian Security and Intelligence apparatus. Citizens are arrested, subjected to extreme variations of torture and humiliating treatment, and then referred to the SSSC to receive harsh sentences.

Therefore, SHRC calls upon the Syrian Authorities to cancel the verdicts issued by the SSSC against the above mentioned detainees, and to release all detainees who have been issued with unjust and oppressive sentences by the SSSC. SHRC also calls upon the Syrian Authorities to close down the SSSC and to refer individuals who have violated legal laws to be tried at fair and independent courts.

Syrian Human Rights Committee
25/3/2007