29 Apr, 2010
Damascus - SKeyes - Maya Ahmed
A European observer stood stunned with a confused smile on her face when she noticed Syrian activists congratulating and embracing each other at the Justice Palace in Damascus, in the hall of the First Criminal Court, on 26/6/2008. This activist had attended [the court hearing] along with her colleagues in the diplomatic court in Damascus, in order to observe the trial of the detainees of the Damascus Declaration.
When she asked about the reason for the scene she had just witnessed, one of the lawyers of the Damascus Declaration detainees responded by saying that the reason is that the Kurdish political activist Mash'al al-Tammo was sent to court. Al-Tammo had been detained by one of the security services at an unknown location. When the European observer asked whether this is cause for such happiness and joy, they replied: isn't a trial, even if it is a sham and is illegal, better for him than to remain isolated from the outside world, with no one knowing when he will be liquidated or what's happening to him? This is what a lawyer and human rights activist in Damascus said, when he was asked about his opinion regarding the Syrian security authorities' policy of enforced disappearance and forcible isolation from the outside world against Syrian political and human rights activists and intellectuals, whether they are dissidents or otherwise, as the Syrian security services practice enforced disappearance and isolation against any civil society activists.
Mash'al al-Tammo, who is a Kurdish writer, politician and official spokesperson of the Kurdish Future Movement, was detained by enforced disappearance on August 15, 2008, by an Aerial Security patrol in Aleppo. He remained missing for eleven days, and no security service would acknowledge that he is in their custody. He was then transferred to the Political Security bureau in Damascus, which in turn sent him to be tried by the First Criminal Court in Damascus. The court then sentenced him on May 11, 2008 to three and a half years in prison on counts of 'weakening the national sentiment and inciting sectarian and ethnic strife", and of "spreading false news about his country Syria and its leader that may weaken the nation's morale", in accordance with articles 285 and 286 of the Syrian General Penal Code.
The various Syrian security services detain hundreds and perhaps even thousands of Syrian citizens and other nationals annually, in addition to hundreds of politicians, journalists, writers and other intellectuals. These are then kept in imprisonment for long periods of time under arbitrary detention before being sent to sham and illegal trials, exploiting the illegal environment strangling the country under the Emergency Law announced since 8/3/1963. At the time, the so-called National Revolutionary Command Council, under Military order no. 2, announced martial law across all parts of the Syrian Arab Republic and which continues to be in force to this day, according to Legislative Decree Number 51, dated 22/11/1962 deemed the Emergency Law.
SKeyes contacted a number of families to inquire about their detained or missing relatives. But most of the families replied by saying that they have no new information, and that they are extremely concerned about their fates. They also expressed their satisfaction with SKeyes' attempt to raise the issue of the abductees, as the security services did not yet refer them to court, or inform the families of the detainees' locations so that they can be reassured of their safety. The families of the detainees then criticized the pro-opposition Syrian media, and also the Arab and international media because they are not shedding any light on their relatives' cases. They also criticized the Syrian human rights organizations for not raising this issue, and for limiting their actions to releasing statements or news about the detention without any follow up.
- The family of the human rights activist Nizar Ristnawi, member of the Arab Organization for Human Rights in Syria, continues to be concerned about his fate after he finished his four year prison sentence on 18/4/2009. He was convicted on charges of 'spreading false news and slandering the President of the Republic".
Ristnawi's fate is still surrounded by a shroud of mystery following the riots that erupted at the Sednaya military prison on 5/7/2008 where he was detained, during which the prison authorities used firearms to control the riots.
Certain political parties, such as the Muslim Brotherhood Organization which is banned in Syria, believe that there are tens of thousands of Syrians linked to the organization who are missing, and whose fates have not been disclosed by the authorities to this day. The group claims that tens of thousands of these missing individuals have been liquidated and killed at the Tadmur (Palmyra) desert prison, in addition to thousand others whom the group believes to be missing.
In the eighties, the Muslim Brotherhood Organization in Syria was involved in an armed insurgency against the Syrian regime in the cities of Aleppo, Hama and Idlib (the group's strongholds). This resulted in the death and disappearance of tens of thousands of the group's members and supporters. Many of them remain unaccounted for, while the regime did not acknowledge that they were arrested nor did it send them to be tried. The Muslim Brotherhood Organization, however, insists that the regime liquidated and killed these individuals and disposed of them.
- After summoning her for questioning at the Political Security Bureau in Damascus, the university student Ayat Issam Ahmad was arrested as of 18/10/2009, against the backdrop of security reports that mentioned her involvement with the Salafi ideology forbidden in the country. To date, there is no news about her, and her family did not yet succeed in contacting her.
Ayat Ahmad was born in Damascus in 1990. She is a first year student at the Faculty of Literature, Department of French literature. She attended the Islamic institute of the late Sheikh Ahmad Keftaro, and according to her parents, she has no links to any Islamist parties.
A lawyer and human rights activist from Damascus said: "the emergency law grants the [authorities] the right to detain individuals without charging them for a period of six month, which can be renewed indefinitely. However, it is only the emergency law that grants this right. In the ordinary criminal laws however, detaining individuals without referring them to court within the specified period of time is tantamount to a crime. However, the emergency law allows for summary detention indefinitely".
- On the first of December, 2009, several Kurdish human rights organizations reported the arrest of the Kurdish writer and activist Bir Rustom, after he was summoned by the Aerieal Intelligence service in Aleppo, against the backdrop of his stay in Iraqi Kurdistan. Rustom's fate remains unknown until this moment. When his family was asked about him, their reply was that they know nothing regarding his situation to date, despite their repeated inquiries at many security branches, to which the answer was always negative.
Bir Rustom is a Kurdish writer and political activist whose real name is Ahmed Mustafa. He is an activist in the Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria who lived in Iraqi Kurdistan for more than a year during which he wrote tens of political articles critical of the Syrian regime. He is also a member of the dissident National Council of the Damascus Declaration for National Democratic Change, and is a human rights activist working with the Kurdish Organization for the Defence of Human Rights and Public Freedoms in Syria (DAD). He has written fourteen books that include novels and studies in both Kurdish and Arabic. He was born in 1963 in the town of Jindires, a part of the city of Afrin north of Aleppo.
- The State Security bureau in the city of Homs (central Syria) arrested the writer and activist Tal Dawsar al-Malouhi (19 years), after summoning her to the aforementioned bureau for questioning on 27/12/2009. Tal's family has since been unable to contact her, despite checking with the bureau, as she has been under enforced disappearance for more than three months.
Al-Malouhi is a young Syrian woman. She was born in the city of Homs in 1991. She had been preparing for the Secondary School Baccalaureate exams and is a distinguished student. She also began writing poetry and articles several years ago. It is believed that her arrest came against the backdrop of articles and poetry she published on her blog.
- The Political Security Bureau in Damascus referred the Kurdish lawyer and writer Mustafa Ismail to the military court in Aleppo, three months after his arrest on 12/12/2009. The Aerial Security service in Aleppo, northern Syria, had arrested the Kurdish lawyer and writer Mustafa Ismail, after summoning him for questioning. He was subsequently referred to the Political Security Bureau in Damascus.
Mustafa was administratively questioned on 23/3/2010 by the General Military Prosecution in Aleppo, and was placed in the Central Prison in Aleppo on charges of 'undermining the reputation of the state". At the time, his family confirmed to SKeyes that Mustafa was first summoned for interrogation on 10/12/2009, which was later corroborated by Mustafa in a news item he published online, indicating that he was summoned for questioning on the International Day for Human Rights. Mustafa's family also added that he was summoned for questioning by the Aerial Security service in Aleppo on 12/12/2009, after which all news about him ceased. According to his family, Mustafa was often the target of security harassments shortly before he was arrested.
Mustafa was summoned against the backdrop of his writings and participations in the programs broadcasted by the Kurdish satellite channel ROJ.TV, which is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and which broadcasts from Belgium.
Mustafa Ismail is a Syrian Kurdish writer and poet. He holds a degree in law and is a known human rights activist. He was born in the city of Ayn al-Arab "Kubani" in 1973. He is married and has children.
- Syrian human rights sources confirmed that the activist Raghda al-Hassan is being detained by the Political Security Bureau in the coastal city of Tartous. Al-Hassan was arrested by one of the security services at the Syrian-Lebanese border on 10/2/2010, after being thoroughly searched and after the confiscation of documents and items in her possession. Her home in Tartous was subsequently raided and searched, and her private documents were seized along with her personal laptop, in addition to the manuscript of the novel 'The New Prophets'. This novel relates the details of her previous imprisonment that lasted two and a half years (1992-1995), which took place because of her affiliation with the Communist Labour Party. Al-Hassan is married to a Palestinian man, and is the mother of four, the youngest of whom is three years old.
- The family and friends of the Kurdish poet Abdul Hafiz Abdul Rahman did not yet succeed in making contact with him since his arrest on March 2, 2010, by the Military Security branch in the city of Aleppo, after his home was raided by a security patrol in the Ashrafieh neighbourhood in Aleppo. He was arrested by the patrol along with the Kurdish activist Nadira 'Abdo who was a guest at his house; she was released four days after her arrest, while Abdul Rahman's fate remains unknown. Abdul Hafiz Abdul Rahman is a Kurdish poet, translator and writer. He was born in Qamishli in 1965. He is pursuing his studies at the Faculty of Economics, and works as an accountant in a private company in Aleppo. He has translated many literary and poetic works, and is a member in the Board of Trustees of the Human Rights Organization in Syria - MAF. He is the head of a large family.
- The Syrian journalist and translator Ma'an Akel was under enforced disappearance for more than three months following his arrest by the State Security Directorate in Syria on 22/11/2009. He was later released on 23/2/2010 without being charged.
A State Security patrol detained the journalist and translator Ma'an Akel from his workplace at The Revolution official newspaper. Shortly after his arrest, the Director General of the Unity Press, Printing and Publishing Corporation, which publishes The Revolution and other local papers, dismissed Akel from his post in less than 48 hours after his arrest.
Ma'an Akel is a former political prisoner. He spent nine years in Syrian prisons because of his affiliation to the banned Communist Action League in the eighties. He received a degree in journalism following his release from prison. He translated the two novels by Milan Kundera 'Testaments Betrayed' and 'The Curtain'. His writings mainly tackle the issues of corruption and bribery, and he is known for his bold investigative reports published in the state-owned press. He was born in the coastal city of Jabla in 1966.
- On Wednesday June 17, 2009, the Syrian Security authorities released the Kurdish writer and journalist Farouq Hadji Mustafa, after arbitrarily detaining him for a period of seventy-three days.
Mustafa was arrested by the Political Security Bureau in the city of Aleppo on April 5, 2009, following repeated summonses, against the backdrop of his meeting with a German journalist who visited him in Aleppo. Hadji Mustafa is a Kurdish writer and journalist. He was born in the village of Zarakli in 1969 (a part of the Ayn al-Arab city/ Kubani in the governorate of Aleppo in northern Syria). He is a writer specializing in Kurdish and Turkish affairs, and has frequent contribution in many Syrian, Lebanese and Arab newspapers including the Syrian Al-Watan, Al-Hayat, Al-Mustaqbal (Lebanon), As-Safir (Lebanon), Al-Kifah al-Arabi (Lebanon), and Al-Bayan (United Arab Emirates). This is in addition to his contributions in various websites such as Middle East Transparent, Al-Awan and the translated articles from the Kurdish and Turkish press that he publishes.
- The location where the Islamist writer and thinker Youssuf Dib Hamoud remains unknown, following his arrest at his home in the Deir al-Zour town east of the country on 15/11/2009.
In a telephone conversation, Hamoud's family said that one of the security services in the city arrested him, without the background of his detention or the side that detained him being made known.
The family believes that the Political Security Branch in Deir el-Zour is behind Hamoud's arrest and that he was transferred to the Fayhaa Branch in Damascus for interrogation. However, nothing is certain until the moment. The family also said that Hamoud suffers from hypertension and arthritis.
The lawyer and rights activist who was interviewed by SKeyes believes that "in the event of a summary detention by the security services, the families have no other option but to continue to go to the security branches and ask about their relatives. In most of the cases, they do not receive any answers, and are unable to provide their relatives with money of medicine or anything else".
The lawyer also adds: "there is no need to recall high-profile cases. The security branches are filled with hundreds of detainees held since many months without their families being allowed to meet them or learn about their statuses".
Youssuf Dib Hamoud was born in Deir el-Zour in 1965. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Shari'a. He is a moderate Islamist writer and thinker. He worked as a preacher in several mosques, until he was barred by the Syrian authorities. He is married and has three children. Hamoud worked as an arbitrator in the Sharia Court in Deir el-Zour. He is a member of the Damascus Declaration for National Democratic Change opposition group, representing the Independent Islamist Movement. He is also a prominent figure in Deir el-Zour, and citizens there often resort to him for arbitration, conflict resolution and reconciliation among individuals, families and clans.
Many Syrian detainees are under enforced disappearance, or vice versa. The families thus know nothing about the fate of their relatives, who spend months in the prisons of the security services without being referred to trial, and without the security services detaining them ever revealing information regarding their conditions to their parents. The families live in constant fear that their loved ones will be liquidated and disposed of, as no one will be able to hold those responsible for that accountable, because of the immunity security officers enjoy under special laws.
The same lawyer said: "arbitrary detention is a tactic used to control the civil society and paralyze its activities by terrorizing and intimidating the people that follows up such arrests and hence expects them as a result of any future activism".
He also added: "isolation from the outside world is even a more horrifying method of intimidation, through which the security services seek to send a message to the civil society and the society as a whole that detention is something dark and frightening, and might subject the detainee to something that he or she does not expect. The aim is to let fear about detention itself have a stranglehold on the people and not the isolation per se".
In the Legislative Decree No. 69 dated 30/9/2009, issued by the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Military Penal Code in Syria was amended to restrict the jurisdiction of prosecuting the officers of the police, Political Security and the Customs Agency accused of torture and abuse to the Armed Forces General Command. This is despite the fact that these officers are administratively subordinate to the Ministry of Interior and not the Armed Forces General Command.
Under this decree, the civilian judiciary cannot handle cases brought against officers of the police, Political Security and the Customs Agency, related to torturing and abusing citizens, as such cases require the prior approval of the Head of the Army and the Armed Forces, although the Syrian Penal Code clearly states that torture is illegal. Therefore, the illegality of such acts has been deliberately negated.
Until when will the violation of the Syrian activists' rights continue, then, without any accountability?
|
