The Syria Monitor

Damascus Declaration: People Boycotted Elections

The Damascus Declaration (DD) grouping, the largest opposition umbrella gathering, said that the Syrian people "turned their faces away" from the parliamentary elections held last week. It also considered the statements made by regime officials, accusing the opposition of treason and collaboration, as reflecting "tension and anxiety." (Arabic. AKI, 4/27/07).

The gathering was referring to the statements made by the Minister of Expatriate Affairs, Buthaina Shaaban, who accused the opposition of collaborating with foreign forces, namely the US. Shaaban then threatened that "the fate of all those who collaborate against their country is well known." (AP, 4/22/07).

The DD's statement added that the Syrian people responded appropriately to these statements by boycotting the elections. (Arabic. ME Transparent, 4/27/07).

The grouping, which includes more than 20 organizations and various individuals, said that the voting process revealed "direct intervention to handpick independents by fielding so-called shadow lists." It also accused the authorities of "interference in counting the votes," and of "pressuring the candidates, and forbidding any political programmes."

The DD also revealed that there were pressures on public sector employees and college students "threatening to expel them from dorms in order to force them to vote."

The grouping added that the Syrian people turned their backs to the "elections theater," and thus "confirmed the correctness of the opposition's decision to boycott these sham elections." It also called for "a real and serious revision of the entire political and legal situation that governs the country and which entrenches the hegemony of a repressive and corrupt authority."

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).

Security Services Raid Dissident's Office, Break Up Opposition Meeting (6/30)

The Syrian security services raided the office of lawyer Hassan Abdel Azim, spokesperson for the National Democratic Gathering, and broke up a meeting of one of the committees of the Damascus Declaration that was being held there. (Arabic. Levant News, 6/29/06). This comes after the National Council of the Damascus Declaration held a large meeting in the house of dissident Riad Seif.

According to information received by Levant News, a state security patrol raided Abdel Azim's office on June 29 and confiscated documents related to the meeting and to the work of the Damascus Declaration. The state security services also ordered George Sabra, a member of the secretariat of the Syrian People's Party, to report to its headquarters immediately.

The report added that the Syrian regime had stepped up its campaign against activists and their meetings, and had banned all forums and gatherings, even those of a cultural nature. Abdel Azim himself is awaiting trial for charges of "possessing and distributing unlicensed publications," in reference to "the Democratic Stand," a publication that the National Democratic Gathering had been issuing for years. He is due to appear before a military court on July 11. (Arabic. Elaph, 6/29/06).

Abdel Azim also said that  the raiding of his office was "part of the ongoing escalation against the national opposition in Syria." (Arabic. Elaph, 6/30/06). He added that the security services broke into his office without any warrant, using as pretext the meeting of a limited number of members of the follow-up and coordination committee of the Damascus Declaration; a total of five people." He added, "it's a new way to violate the sanctity of homes and private offices, insult the dignity of citizens, restrict basic freedoms, and ignore human rights. It's a total confiscation of the freedom of the national democratic opposition, in order to paralyze its ability to practice its role and activity even at the most minium level.  The regime and its apparatuses insist on the method of tyranny, repression, and negation of the other, paying no mind to constitutional texts and international charters."

The Elaph report notes that one of the regime-run official newspapers had launched an assault on the opposition accusing it of treason and of contributing one way or the other to the international pressures on Syria, especially from the US.

Regime Seeking to Dismantle the Damascus Declaration (6/28)

Syrian dissidents and activists told AKI that the Syrian regime is working on several fronts "in order to dismantle the Damascus Declaration gathering" through "attempts at splitting its ranks and co-opting certain parties" who are part of the Declaration. (Arabic. 6/28/06).

Nevertheless, the AKI report notes that all the activists said that the parties who are signatories to the Damascus Declaration (DD) were "aware of the aims of this attempt and are working to make sure it does not succeed," adding, "the parties are committed to all the principles of the Declaration and will not enter into compromises to abandon them."

The Syrian regime had dispatched the recently appointed Vice President for cultural affairs to hold talks with some Kurdish parties, reportedly regarding the matter of the 120,000 Kurds who have been stripped of their citizenship.  According to activists, the Syrian regime promised the leaders of certain Kurdish parties to look into the citizenship problem in return for their mass withdrawal from the Damascus Declaration, which would lead in their view to the dismantling of the Declaration.

Citing reliable information it received, the AKI report says that all the Kurdish parties under the DD have rejected the compromise, and have asserted their position in the last general meeting of the DD groups, which was kept low key, and stated that they would not abandon their support for the  Declaration for any reason whatsoever and that they would remain within the ranks of the united opposition.

The report further quotes sources as saying that there was an attempt by some intellectuals, under the sponsorship of the Syrian regime, to issue a counter-declaration to the Beirut-Damascus Declaration (BDD), in which they would criticize the BDD but would also call for the release of the signatories of the BDD who are still in jail. The sources said this attempt failed, but did not clarify the reason for its failure.

It is worth recalling that last month there were rumors of a written proposal, allegedly co-drafted by the security services, that was presented to the BDD detainees, perhaps as a potential compromise formula for their release, but the detainees rejected it.

A statement by the Committees for the Revival of Civil Society in Syria also argued that the prosecutor general was delaying their trials in order to keep them detained for as long as possible, and it was using this time "to stir up conflicts between the detainees and attempt to blackmail them ... in order to push them to retract their support for the Beirut-Damascus Declaration." (Arabic. ME Transparent, 6/28/06). "The detainees," the statement went on to say, have nevertheless "expressed their continued committment to and unity around [the BDD]."

Finally, the Committee for the Support and Activation of the Damascus Declaration recently met in Paris and agreed, among several things, to start a fund to support democratic activism in Syria and those affected by the regime's repression, including the families of prisoners of conscience. (Arabic. Via The Atassi Forum, 6/24/06).

Damascus Declaration Council Meets in Riad Seif's House (6/28)

The National Council of the Damascus Declaration convened a meeting in the house of dissident Riad Seif on June 26 (Arabic. Al-Watan, via Levant News, 6/28/06).

The meeting was attended by numerous figures from political parties and organizations who are part of the Damascus Declaration. During the meeting, the participants discussed a paper presented by the People's Party (formerly Riad Turk's Communist Party) and formed a number of committees, including media and organizational committees, and one to support detained activists. The participants also decided to increase the political and media campaign against the regime.

A manifesto was said to follow on June 28.

Khaddam Comments on Assad's Statements (6/27)

Former VP Abdel Halim Khaddam replied to statements made by Syrian president Bashar Assad to the London-based daily al-Hayat in which Assad derided the National Salvation Front (NSF). (Arabic. AKI, 6/27/06).

Assad had claimed the Syrian authorities and public received the formation of the NSF "with ridicule." (Arabic. Al-Hayat, 6/26/06). In a call to AKI, Khaddam replied, "if it was received with ridicule, then why the blind reaction arresting hundreds of people?" He added, "Bashar Assad knows that the Salvation Front is a reality among the Syrian people, and knows the extent of its reach in society. The people is suffering from repression and persecution, and there are millions of unemployed and deprived people looking for salvation and a better life. This is why the Salvation Front has a significant popular weight. We are not claiming it monopolizes the public, but it is one of the opposition currents that draw people in Syria, and the polling boxes will determine the country's political color. The entire society is for change, and the wall of fear has begun to crumble bit by bit."

As for Assad's claim that the NSF was receiving international political and financial aid., Khaddam said, "the Front has not contacted any state, Arab or foreign, but many states and political and social powers around the world realize how bad the situation is in Syria and feel the need of the Syrian people to be free." He did however point out that the NSF has sent letters to member states of the UN Security Council explaining the situation in Syria, and requesting "interference in order to protect the Syrian people."

Most recently, the NSF sent a letter to the first international conference for human rights in Geneva. (Arabic. "Free Syria," 6/22/06). It had also sent a letter to the European Union calling on it to support the Syrian people.

In a recently released statement, the temporary committee of the Damascus Declaration (DD) reasserted its independence from the NSF, but added that any problems could be resolved through dialogue "in order to safeguard the unity of the opposition and in the interest of national democratic change." (Arabic. ME Transparent, 6/12/06).

Similarly, Hasan Abdel Azim, the spokesman of the National Democratic Gathering in Syria (a coalition of five opposition groups) and member of the DD temporary committee, said that despite his reservations and criticisms against him, Khaddam's defection was "the regime's problem, not the opposition's," and "the NSF does not concern us. It's the regime's problem." As for the Muslim Brotherhood, which is a member of both the NSF and the DD, Abdel Azim said, "we don't want to resort to procedures such as suspending or freezing their membership... The dialogue is ongoing ... for the sake of the unity of the opposition." (Arabic. Levant News, 6/16/06).

Back in April, another veteran dissident, Riad Turk, also said, "while we do not have to support Khaddam, we will not fight him on behalf of the regime," and thereby indirectly do the regime a favor. (Arabic. Elaph, 4/16/06). He added that the opposition was open to everyone, including Ba'athist defectors.

Fired Employees Controversy Continues (6/27)

The controversy over the firing of 17 public sector employees for their support of the Beirut-Damascus Declaration continues, drawing more condemnation from opposition groups. (Arabic. AKI, 6/27/06).

Dissidents were quoted as saying that the firing was not only a violation of human rights and of the Syrian constitution, but also "new proof that the authorities  consider employment a grant, and not a right, and here they are fighting activists in their and their children'ts livelihood  to push them to refrain from having their say on a particular issue or from signing a declaration or asking for the release of detainees." (Arabic. Elaph, 6/25/06).

Others added that by firing the employees for expressing their views, the authorities indicate that they want "mouths that do not speak or utter a word. If they do, then they would not eat, and they would be denied work and their families' livelihoods. It is also pressure on the opposition and the terrorizing and repression of society."

The Kurdish Yekiti party said that the campaign could be the beginning of a campaign that would continue in order to "purge" the Syrian political scene.

Similarly, the temporary committee of the Damascus Declaration had issued a statement about two weeks ago (6/10) declaring that the aim of the regime was to "strike the opposition forces working for national democratic change, and to paralyze its ability to move or act." (Arabic. ME Transparent, 6/12/06).

The statement took a stand against compromising with the regime on the issue of political detentions, and expressed solidarity with the detained signatories of the Beirut-Damascus Declaration and all political prisoners.

European Parliament Resolution on Human Rights in Syria (6/13)

The European Parliament will vote in its June 15 session on a resolution condemning human rights abuses in Syria. The resolution will reportedly call for the immediate release of the Beirut-Damascus Declaration detainees (Arabic. Elaph, via "Free Syria," 6/13/06). It will also call on the Syrian regime to review all the cases of political prisoners and to release all prisoners of conscience.

The resolution will express its displeasure with the Syrian's regimes treatment of human rights activists and will also ask the regime to give guarantees that all prisoners are treated well and not beaten or tortured, as well as guarantees of their right to meet with their families, lawyers, and doctors.

The Parliament's resolution will also ask that the EU Association Agreement with Syria be cancelled unless human rights conditions in Syria improve. It will also ask the EU Commission to monitor and report annually on the human rights situation in Syria and make sure that Syria abides by the conditions of the Euro-Med agreement which call for the respect of human rights and democratic principles.

Representatives from the Syrian Democratic Coalition will attend the session.

Meanwhile, the temporary committee of the Damascus Declaration issued a statement in which it thanked the EU for its firm position in support of prisoners of conscience and opinion in Syria (Arabic. AKI, 6/13/06). The statement criticized the regime's media campaign against the Beirut-Damascus Declaration and its signatories, and described the regime as a "closed structure resistant to and incapable of change." (Arabic. "Free Syria," 6/13/06). "As such," it added, "the regime relies on a single mechanism in dealing with the Syrian interior, which is repression and arrests."

The statement went further saying that the regime's policy of cracking down is but a sign of its weakness and of the magnitude of the crisis in its relationship with Syrian society. It added that the aim of the latest crackdown is to "deal a blow to the opposition forces working to bring about democratic change, and to paralyze their ability to move and operate."

Two Withdrawals from the NSF (6/11)

One week after its first conference in London, the National Salvation Front (NSF) saw two members withdraw from its ranks (Arabic. Elaph, 6/11/06).

Abdel Hamid Khodr, the secretary general of the opposition Movement of Freedom and National Solidarity in Syria, released a statement  in which he announced his withdrawal from the Front (Arabic. tsdp.org, 6/9/06). Khodr revealed his objection to being named to the Front's Central Committee despite his refusal to accept the nomination (Arabic. Save Syria).

He asked that his name be removed, stating that he did not participate in the voting. Khodr criticized what he deemed "undemocratic practices" and stressed the need for "highly transparent democratic means if authoritarianism was to be defeated." He added that he would soon detail the reasons that led him to join the NSF as well as those that led him to withdraw his membership.

The Syrian National Democratic Gathering (TAWAD) had also announced its withdrawal (Arabic. UPI via tsdp.org, 6/7/06). The Gathering's Vienna-based coordinator, Marwan Hammoud, told UPI there were no grounds to continue working with the NSF any longer. Hammoud's reasons appear to be similar to Khodr's, having to do with the Front's Central Committee and disagreement over how its members were elected.

For its part, the temporary committee of the Damascus Declaration, in a statement by one of its members, Hasan Abdel Azim, reiterated its independence from the NSF, adding that "no coordination, talks, or relation exist between the two."