The Syria Monitor

Kilo and Issa Sentenced to Three Years

Dissidents Michel Kilo and Mahmoud Issa were sentenced today to three years in prison each for "weakening national sentiment, spreading false news, and inciting sectarian strife." (Arabic. Elaph, 5/13/07).

Two other dissidents, Suleiman Shammar and Khalil Hussein, who have been in hiding for months, were sentenced in absentia to ten years each; Five for weakening national sentiment, and five for inciting a foreign state to attack Syria.

The four dissidents, are signatories to the Beirut-Damascus Declaration, a joint document by hundreds of Lebanese and Syrian intellectuals calling for the rectification of bilateral relations through the respect of Lebanese sovereignty and independence, delineation of borders, exchange of embassies, and abiding by UN resolutions.

Kilo and Issa were arrested in May 2006 along with a number of other signatories to the declaration some of whom have since been released. Another signatory, Anwar Bunni, was sentenced on April 24 to five years. And with these verdicts, the Beirut-Damascus Declaration file was closed.

The National Organization for Human Rights in Syria (NOHR-S) condemned the sentence as politically motivated, since the charges have no legal standing. Dissidents in Syria were fearful that after the rough sentences against Bunni and Kamal Labwani, Kilo would also get a harsh sentence. (Arabic. Elaph, 5/11/07). Labwani was sentenced to twelve years on Thursday. The White House has condemned both sentences.

Six detained leading opposition figures warned earlier this month that the "repressive climate" in the country was worsening and called for the release of all political prisoners. (AFP, 5/1/07). The statement was published in the Lebanese daily An-Nahar on May 1 and signed by Kilo, Issa, Bunni, Labwani, Faeq al-Mir, and Aref Dalilah, who has been detained since 2001 and is serving a ten year term.

The six opposition figures called for "solidarity" with rights activists jailed in Syria, which has been under a state of emergency ever since the Baath party seized power in 1963.

"The Syrian people are paying a heavy price in order to obtain their rights, and we hope that we are the last payment of this expensive price in order for the Syrians to regain their freedoms," they said.

Labwani Sentenced to 12 Years

Dissident Kamal Labwani, head of the Liberal Democratic Gathering, was sentenced today to life in prison, commuted to 12 years with labor, for "inciting a foreign state to attack Syria." (Arabic. AKI, 5/10/07).

Labwani was arrested upon arrival at Damascus airport on 8 November 2005. He was returning from a trip to Europe and the USA where he met human rights organizations and government officials and called for democratic reform in Syria, including in an interview on al-Hurra.

Labwani, a physician, did not speak when the judge handed down the sentence, and only raised his fist in the air upon imposing sentencing. (AP. 5/10/07). "It is too much," whispered Labwani's wife, Samar, adding that the sentence was a political one.

This is the second time Labwani has been sentenced to jail. He was first sentenced to three years when the regime cracked down on the so-called "Damascus Spring" movement in 2001.

His sentencing follows another in recent days against Anwar al-Bunni, a human rights lawyer, who received a five-year prison sentence, signaling a continuing of a crackdown by authorities against dissent. (AI, 4/27/07). Michel Kilo and Mahmoud Issa, signatories of the Beirut-Damascus Declaration, will receive their sentence on Sunday.

Amnesty International had called for the release of Labwani, Kilo, Bunni and Issa in a recent statement. And the Syrian Human Rights Monitor commented on the sentence in a statement: "We consider the verdict to be political par excellence, especially since it was handed down while President Assad was addressing the new parliament, which reflects the worrisome direction that the Syrian authorities are pursuing against those who oppose them." (Arabic. Elaph, 5/10/07). Human Rights Watch also noted that "[f]rom the onset, Labwani’s trial was marred by the interference of the state security agencies." (HRW, 5/11/07).

Nadim Houri, a Syria researcher with Human Rights Watch, commented on the verdict saying, "The crackdown is continuing and there is really no sign of it abating. ... Clearly, Syrian authorities have no intention of opening up any space for political reform, and I think what we're seeing today is another symbol of the peaceful opposition to the Assad regime being punished for their views." He also urged the international community to stand up for Syrian activists. (AP. 5/10/07).

Another dissident, former MP Ma'moun Homsi, who has left Syria, had his assets seized by the regime, with the purpose of pressuring him and his family. Homsi had revealed in a recent interview on the liberal Arabic website Aafaq, that he had sent a letter to Sen. Nancy Pelosi asking her not to come to Damascus. (Arabic. Aafaq, 4/30/07).

Some dissidents in Syria are said to have linked the harsh sentence against Bunni to the recent Congressional visits to Damascus, which emboldened the regime to crack down even more.

“Syrian officials repeatedly claim that their country wants to play a constructive role in the region,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at HRW. “But this is hard to believe as they continue to imprison peaceful dissidents at home.”  

Regime Seizes Homsi's Assets

The Syrian regime has seized the assets of dissident and former MP Ma'moun Homsi with the purpose of pressuring him and his family. (Arabic. Reuters, 5/3/07).

Homsi's lawyer Haitham al-Maleh said that the financial prosecution of Homsi has led to stripping the ownership of the house where his family lives, and seizing real estate and moneys on which the family relies.

Homsi had called on the Syrian people to boycott the recent parliamentary elections, and strongly criticized the regime. He also revealed in a recent interview on the liberal Arabic website Aafaq, that he had sent a letter to Sen. Nancy Pelosi asking her not to come to Damascus. Homsi added that the idea of engaging the Syrian regime is "a very dangerous proposition cause next will be a call to engage terrorist organizations." (Arabic. Aafaq, 4/30/07).

Homsi was first arrested in 2001, during the crackdown against the so-called "Damascus Spring" movement. He was sentenced to five years for "attempting to illegally change the constitution." He left Syria in June 2006, and said that the regime's intransigence had left him no other option but to leave.

Anwar Bunni Sentenced to Five Years

Human rights lawyer and activist Anwar Bunni was sentenced to five years in jail and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine for "weakening the morale of the nation." (Arabic. AKI, 4/24/07). The fine is to be paid to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, which had demanded compensation for all the sums received by Bunni from the EU Commission, as director of the (partially EU-funded) center for human rights which he opened in Syria and which the Syrian authorities shut down in March 2006, a week after its opening. (Arabic. Elaph, 4/24/07).

Bunni was arrested in May 2006 along with ten others, including Michel Kilo, after signing the "Beirut-Damascus Declaration." The declaration, signed by around 300 Syrian and Lebanese activists, called on Syria to correct its relations with Lebanon and comply with UN resolutions by demarcating the border, setting up an embassy in Beirut and recognizing Lebanon's sovereignty and independence.

Bunni's defense called the sentence "a political decision" that has nothing to do with the law and should be annulled.

During the hearing, Bunni stressed that his trial was not because of any crime, but in order to silence him for his exposing of human rights violations, which is something he will never give up. He added that he considered the charge leveled against him a source of pride, and that he considered his trial a political charade subject to the directives of the powers that concocted it. Amnesty International held the same view in a statement released yesterday prior to the sentencing.

During his detention, Bunni was repeatedly abused as he was placed in the criminal ward and assaulted by common criminals, in the presence of the prison guards and with the knowledge of the prison administration, and at times even beaten by the prison guards. He detailed the conditions of political prisoners in a recent letter from jail to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. (English. ME Transparent, 3/10/07).

Measures Against Anwar Bunni (2/19)

In an unprecedented move, the Syrian Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has declared before the criminal court its intention to criminalize activist lawyer Anwar Bunni and then to present the ruling, once it comes out, to the Ministry of the Interior in order to strip Bunni of his citizenship, according to reports in AKI (Arabic, 2/19/07) and Elaph (Arabic, 2/18/07).

The Ministry, which called for the maximum sentence, also demanded compensation for all the sums received by Bunni from the EU Commission, as director of the (partially EU-funded) center for human rights which he opened in Syria and which the Syrian authorities shut down a week after its opening.

This took place in his trial session yesterday (Sunday, 2/18), which was attended by Western diplomats as well as activists and lawyers. He was charged with "spreading false news that weaken the spirit of the nation." His trial was postponed until March 11.

Bunni has been detained since May 2006 for signing the Beirut-Damascus Declaration and for his numerous statements to the media regarding human rights violations in Syria.

Bunni (along with other prisoners of opinion) was repeatedly abused in prison, as he was placed in the criminal ward and assaulted by common criminals, in the presence of the prison guards and with the knowledge of the prison administration, and at times even beaten by prison guards.

According to a 1967 decree, a citizen could be stripped of citizenship, following a justified proposal by a minister, if, e.g., s/he was in the service of a foreign state, or if s/he held activities for a country at war with Syria.

This measure is in line with the position set by Bashar Assad against Bunni and Michel Kilo. In various interviews, (Spanish. El Pais, 10/1/06) Assad has repeatedly declared that there were no political prisoners, only criminals who have broken the law and collaborated with Syria's enemies.

Kamal Labwani Physically Abused (11/7)

The Syrian Human Rights Observatory reported in a press release that political prisoner Kamal Labwani was assaulted in the Adra prison where he is detained. (Arabic. Elaph, 11/4/06).

The statement said that Labwani was beaten and verbally abused by a criminal inmate at the behest of the security services. It added that Labwani filed a complaint which was ignored by the prison authorities.

Labwani's family confirmed the assault took place and held the prison authorities responsible. (Arabic. Levant News, 11/3/06). The family also reiterated its request to separate political prisoners from criminals. The prison authorities had placed Labwani in the violent crimes ward, and had placed Anwar Bunni in the robberies ward, while Michel Kilo and the recently re-arrested Mahmoud Issa are placed in the prostitution ward. This practice of placing political prisoners with criminals has been common. It was done, for instance, to Fateh Jamous who was also beaten by inmate thugs.

Human rights sources confirm that the authorities instruct criminals to attack political prisoners in order to pressure them and crush their spirits. (Arabic. TSDP, 11/3/06). It is often dubbed "torture by proxy." It is a practice also used outside prison, where thugs are sent out to beat up dissidents at rallies. 

Bunni, Issa, Kilo and Labwani had launched a week-long hunger strike, which ended on 11/4, to protest rights violations in Syria, including continued political imprisonment, torture of detainees, subversion of the judiciary, and stifling of freedom of speech and opinion. (Arabic. Elaph, 11/4/06). The detainees said the assault on Labwani and the reversal of the judicial order to release Kilo cause them to worry about their situation and lives in prison. Yet they still called for unifying efforts to maintain pressure on the regime.

Labwani, who is being charged of contacting a foreign state in order to incite aggression against Syria, also penned a letter from prison defending himself and attacking authoritarian rule in Syria and calling for democratic change. (Arabic. ME Transparent, 11/1/06).

In another act of defiance, the detainees hailed the sentencing of Saddam Hussein as a precedent for holding dictators accountable in the Arab world, despite expressing reservation over the death penalty. (Arabic. Al-Mustaqbal, 11/7/06). Anwar Bunni told AKI that the sentencing marks the first time in the Arab world that a dictator was held accountable by the people for his crimes. He added, "it would not be the last." (Arabic. AKI, 11/7/06). He also told Reuters that this presented "the last chance for all to respect human rights before it was too late," in a direct jab against the Syrian regime. Similarly, Labwani was quoted as saying "these rulings confirm the nearness of the day when all [dictators] will be tried, no matter their rank, for the crimes they committed against their people."

An international tribunal is currently being set up to try suspects in the assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and other Lebanese politicians and journalists. The reports of the UN investigation have implicated the Syrian regime in the killings.

The Kilo Fiasco (11/6)

On October 19, reports came out that Beirut-Damascus Declaration (BDD) signatory, Michel Kilo, would be released on bail, leaving Anwar al-Bunni and Ali Shehabi as the last two signatories still in detention. (Arabic. AKI, 10/19/06). Bunni is reportedly facing charges of contacting enemy sides and belonging to an organization of an international character without government permission, as well as disseminating false news. (Arabic. Elaph, 10/9/06).

However, it quickly became apparent that Kilo was not going to be released. His family confirmed that despite the judge's signature on the release request and the payment of the bail, Kilo remained in jail. (Arabic. Elaph, 10/20/06). Rumors began circulating that the Syrian authorities would not allow Kilo's release. (Arabic. Elaph, 10/21/06). It then came out that there was clear political interference in the judicial order. (Arabic. Elaph, 10/21/06). One report claimed that, based on information from the Syrian Human Rights Observatory, "a prominent figure from the first rank of the Syrian regime" flagrantly interfered in order to prevent Kilo's release. (Arabic. Elaph, 10/22/06).

It is worth noting that Kilo's lawsuit against a regime-hired pen (Arabic. Elaph, 8/26/06), who accused him of receiving money and operational directions from an anti-Syrian Lebanese Minister to support terrorist acts in Syria (Arabic. AKI, 7/25/06), was also rejected after alleged interference from the office of Maher Assad, the President's brother, who is close to the journalist in question. (Arabic. Levant News, 9/29/06).

Political interference soon became manifest when additional, more serious charges, including "exposing Syria to the danger of hostile acts," were brought against Kilo and three recently-released (Arabic. Levant News, 9/25/06) BDD signatories, Mahmoud Issa, Khalil Hussein, and Suleiman al-Shammar.  (Arabic. Elaph, 10/22/06). An order went out to rearrest them and detain them in the Adra prison.

The following day, the security forces raided Mahmoud Issa's house and re-arrested him. (Arabic. Elaph, 10/23/06).

In response, Kilo, Bunni, and Kamal Labwani launched a protest hunger strike which ended on 11/4. (AFP, 10/30/06). Meanwhile, Syrian and international human rights organizations strongly attacked the Syrian judiciary over the Kilo fiasco calling it "a judicial scandal." (Arabic. AKI, 10/25/06). The Kilo affair was covered by Reporters Sans Frontieres. (French. 11/2/06).

A German-based opposition group, The Party of Modernity and Democracy for Syria, declared it was holding a sit-in and a hunger strike of its own in solidarity with the Syrian detainees. (Arabic. AKI, 10/31/06). The hunger strike ended yesterday.

In related news, another recently-arrested BDD signatory, Ali Shehabi, was also denied release. (Arabic. Elaph, 10/22/06).

News Round-Up (9/2-9)

9/2 - The National Organization for Human Rights in Syria (NOHR) said it was denied an operating permit by the social affairs ministry and blasted the move as a failure by the authorities to respect the law. A statement by the group said it operated "within the framework of the law" and vowed to continue its work in defense of "human rights and political detainees." (Arabic. Elaph, 9/2/06). The group comprises around 60 people, mostly lawyers and engineers, and includes representatives of various religions and ethnic groups in Syria. Its president, Ammar al-Qurabi, was arrested in mid-March at Damascus airport and detained for three days following a trip to the United States and France.

9/3 - A statement by the Syrian Human Rights Committee (SHRC) said that a Syrian Kurdish activist Naime Abdo was arrested and brutally tortured, which necessitated her transfer to the military hospital in Aleppo on August 30. (Arabic. SHRC, 9/3/06).

9/4 - Dissident and former MP Riad Seif issued a statement detailing his constant harrassment by the Syrian security apparatus  since his release from jail in January 2006. (Arabic. ME Transparent, 9/4/06). Seif said that the Syrian security services ordered him to desist from political activity and told him not to give interviews to the media, and threatened that if he did not obey these orders, the Syrian regime would be forced to arrest or kill him. (MEMRI, 9/19/06). The statement offers a snapshot of the regime's tactics in dealing with the opposition.

9/5 - A statement from the Paris office of the Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria (PDK-S/Al-Party) said that the authorities continue to detain Kurdish national figure Abdul Rahman Wello, and have refused all pleas to release him. Wello is 70 years old and was arrested on June 19 but has not yet been charged. (Arabic. Via "Free Syria," 9/5/06). The statement added that according to information received by the PDK-S/Al-Party, is currently being held in a Damascus jail where he is being maltreated despite his old age and despite his fragile health which continues to deteriorate.

9/5 - On September 5, the authorities released one of the detained signatories of the Beirut-Damascus Declaration (BDD). (Arabic. Levant News, 9/5/06). Muhammad Mahfoud was released on bail to await trial, making him the fifth BDD detainee to be released at the time. The other four were released in mid-July. Although the lawyers of the remaining five detainees had appealed for the release of their clients, which include Michel Kilo and Anwar Bunni, their request was rejected. The BDD had asked the Syrian regime to recognize and respect Lebanon's sovereignty and independence, and to demarcate the common borders and exchange embassies.

9/9 - The Committees for the Defence of Human Rights and Democratic Freedoms in Syria (CDF) issued a statement denouncing the maltreatment of prisoner of opinion Habib Saleh, noting that he is being deprived the most basic rights afforded to prisoners. (Arabic. Elaph, 9/9/06). The statement said that Saleh is deprived of vists, except from his wife and daughter. He is not allowed to see his lawyer, or to read the papers or watch TV or listen to the radio. He is also deprived from daily recreation and is under a "prison siege" whereby inmates are forbidden from talking to him. His physical and emotional states are said to be deteriorating (he suffers from several chronic illnesses).

Saleh is a former Damascus Spring detainee who was jailed for three years on 9/12/01. He was again arrested by military intelligence on 5/30/05 and charged with spreading false and exaggerated news. He had been publishing scathing articles on the web, criticizing the Syrian president and his family and some of the symbols of the regime. On August 15 he was given the maximum sentence of three years in prison.

News Round-Up (8/29-9/1)

[Ed.'s Note: Due to the recent crisis in Lebanon, The Syria Monitor took a temporary back seat. Posting will now resume starting with quick round-ups from the last few weeks. Regular posting will then follow.]

8/29 - The Syrian authorities refused to allow dissident Michel Kilo to attend his mother's funeral (Arabic. AKI, 8/29/06). Kilo's lawyer told the press that the practice of allowing prisoners to attend their parents' funerals has been established for decades in Syria, but the authorities did not recognize it for Kilo. Kilo was arrested in May in the wave of arrests that targeted signatories of Beirut-Damascus Declaration, a document initially signed by 274 Syrian and Lebanese activists and intellectuals calling on the Syrian regime to correct its relations with Lebanon, by recognizing its sovereignty and independence and abiding by international resolutions. Kilo is facing charges of "weakening nationalist sentiment," "inciting sectarian and ethnic strife," "disseminating false or exaggerated news that undermine the state," and "defaming the head of state or the judiciary." (Arabic. Elaph, 8/29/06).

8/31 - Kurdish activist Abdel Hakim Bashar, member of the Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria's politburo (PDK-S/Al-Parti), was forbidden from traveling to Iraqi Kurdistan. (Arabic. Elaph, 8/31/06). This comes in a series of recent travel bans against activists in an attempt to isolate them from the outside world.

9/1 - Three Kurdish parties (Yekiti, Azadi, and the Kurdish Future Current), called for a sit-in on 9/7 in front of the Military Court in Damascus. The sit-in is to protest the prosecution at the Military Court of 49 Kurdish youth arrested last year for their participation in a rally demanding the truth behind the murder of Kurdish cleric, Sheikh Maashouq al-Khaznawi. (Arabic. AKI, 9/1/06). Khaznawi disappeared on May 10, 2005 and was found dead on June 1, 2005. His death is suspected of being the work of the Syrian intelligence services, as Khaznawi was making overtures to the Arab opposition and the Muslim Brotherhood.

9/1 - The Syrian opposition strongly criticized the speech given by Bashar Assad on August 15, where he attacked the ruling Lebanese Parliamentary and cabinet majority, the Lebanese independence movement, moderate Arab leaders, the US and Israel, and expressed support for Hezbollah. A statement by the Damacus Declaration groups criticized Assad's as inciting violence and inflammatory against moderate Arab and international parties. (Arabic. Elaph, 9/1/06).  It also called on the regime to cease interfering in Lebanese affairs. Furthermore, it noted the need for radical democratic change in public life in Syria, moving it from authoritarianism and repression to a law-based democratic system with equality, freedom and justice.

Similarly, the leading members of the National Salvation Front, Abdel Halim Khaddam (Arabic. AKI, 8/28/06) and Ali Sadreddine al-Bayanouni (Arabic. AKI, 9/1/06), both criticized Assad's speech and his reckless policies in back to back appearences on Lebanon's Future TV. Khaddam noted that it was the Assad regime's policy to bleed Israel through proxy war in Lebanon. Bayanouni meanwhile said that the intent to re-dominate Lebanon was "a priority for the regime." Both Khaddam and Bayanouni also expressed certainty that Assad was behind the murder of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Bayanouni also sent messages to Syria's minority Alawites in an attempt to assuage their fears of democratic change in Syria. He said that it was unfair to call the regime "Alawite" as it a family regime, and the Alawites have had their share of injustice and repression like all Syrians. Both Khaddam and Bayanouni stressed their conviction that no civil war would erupt in Syria should the regime be toppled. 

News Round-Up (8/8-16)

[Ed.'s Note: Due to the recent crisis in Lebanon, The Syria Monitor took a temporary back seat. Posting will now resume starting with quick round-ups from the last few weeks. Regular posting will then follow.]

8/9 - Exiled dissident and former reformist MP Ma'moun Homsi addressed the Lebanese people in a statement expressing solidarity with them. (Arabic. "Free Syria," 8/9/06). He said "the only thing more brutal than the war being waged against Lebanon is the dictatorial, authoritarian family regime in Syria," which is "seeking to take advantage of the carnage in Lebanon to prolong its rule after its behavior and abuse of its people and neighbors have been exposed to the world." He accused the regime of trying to sow divisions and civil strife in Lebanon and said that "the world's turning a blind eye to this regime is a danger to all because [the regime] spreads hatred and systematically supports terrorism according to its interests and in order to stay in power."

8/10 - The Damascus Declaration (DD) groups have formed a national council for the Syrian opposition. (Arabic. Elaph, 8/10/06). Sources inside the DD told Elaph that the DD groups have agreed on an organizational structure and have formed the national council from which emerged follow-up and coordination committees. Hasan Abdel Azim told Elaph that the committees have met and have estabished offices. He added that detained dissident Aref Dalilah was named an honorary member of the follow-up committee.

8/11 - The Committees for the Defense of Democratic Liberties and Human Rights in Syria reported in a press release that on 8/11, security agents and unknown armed men surrounded the house of the Committees' spokesman, lawyer Aktham Naisse where a meeting was supposed to be held between various Arab and Kurdish parties and groups. (Arabic. SHRC, 8/11/06). The attendants were searched individually and their documents seized. Their names were then taken down and they were removed by force. Naisse remained in his house, under siege.

The Committees had declared that on 8/7, Naisse and his wife were called in for questioning at the state security branch in Lattakia as a result of an informant's report. (Arabic. SHRC, 8/8/06). The Syrian Human Rights Committee (SHRC) noted that it has recorded the existence of hundreds of thousands of informants who are either rewarded or coerced and blackmailed into writing reports about their families, friends and colleagues.

8/12 - Elaph reported that the Syrian authorities have put a new list of activists under travel bans. (Arabic. 8/12/06). The report said it found out that among of the banned were human rights lawyer Khalil Maatouq, lawyer Mahmoud Mer'i of the Arab Organization for Human Rights, who was recently released after being detained for signing the Beirut-Damascus Declaration. The Syrian authorities had recently expanded the list of travel bans to include such activists as Riad Seif, former Damascus Spring detainee Ali Khalife, Suheir Atassi, Fawwaz Tello, and Samar Labwani, wife of political prisoner Kamal Labwani.

The Syrian Human Rights Committee had also reported on 8/9 that activist Ussama Naisse was also put under a travel ban, and various other liberal activists were being summoned for interrogation. (Arabic. SHRC, 8/9/06).

8/14 - The trial of writer and dissident Ali Abdallah and his son was postponed.  (Arabic. Elaph, 8/14/06). Their lawyers presented a plea for their release but the judge turned it down. The Abdallahs denied all the charges against them. Ali is accused of spreading false news, undermining the state, and defaming the President, while his son Muhammad is charged with disseminating false news, defaming the chief judge of the State Security Court, and starting riots.

8/15 - The military tribunal in Homs -- an extraordinary tribunal -- sentenced Syrian writer and activist Habib Saleh to the maximum sentence of three years in prison for "disseminating false news." (Arabic. AKI, 8/16/06). Saleh is a former Damascus Spring detainee who was jailed for three years on 9/12/01, when Bashar Assad cracked down on dissidents and activists soon after assuming power. (Arabic. Levant News, 8/15/06). Saleh was released on 9/9/04 and was again arrested by military intelligence on 5/30/05 and charged with spreading false and exaggerated news. He had been publishing scathing articles on the web, attacking the Syrian president and his family and some of the symbols of the regime. The articles were in the form of open letters addressed to the Baath Party Congress, which took place in June 2005 and failed to introduce any reforms.

8/15 - The head of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, Ali Sadreddine al-Bayanouni, said in a talk to Radio Sawa that the war in Lebanon has temporarily frozen activities against the regime, but that they would soon resume. (Arabic. Levant News, 8/15/06). He added that the Syrian regime was isolating itself more and more and that the Lebanese have realized that the regime's role in the war was to employ its "cards" and to manage a proxy war outside its own borders, at the expense of the Lebanese people. Bayanouni noted that the war in Lebanon had exposed the Syrian regime and increased its isolation with Arab and Western governments. He said that there was consensus among the Syrian opposition groups that the alternative to the regime would be democratic, pluralistic, and diverse, adding that the National Salvation Front is preparing a transitional government in consultation with all other groups.

8/16 - Activist Ali Said Shehabi, who was formerly detained between 1982 and 1991 for his involvement in the Communist Labor party at the time, was summoned on 8/10 for interrogation at the state security branch and never returned home. His wife inquired about him at the security branch and was told that he was detained there, but did not allow her to see him and was not told why he was being detained. (Arabic. "Free Syria," 8/16/06).