SYRIA: A “kangaroo court” infringing on human rights
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A group of friends chatting in a cafe and criticizing politicians is a common scene in many parts of the world.
Not in Syria.
Muhamad al-Husseini, 67, landed in jail for criticizing corruption and “insulting the Syrian president” while sitting at a popular cafe in Damascus.
The supreme state security court sentenced Husseini to three years in jail in 2007 based on reports by security services officials who reportedly overheard him.
Husseini’s case -- and those of 200 more Syrian detainees tried or charged between January 2007 and June 2008 by this special ‘kangaroo court’ that prosecutes individuals seen as a threat to the state -- was the subject of an extensive report issued today by the New-York based Human Rights Watch.
The organization called on Syrian authorities to abolish this security court. It has taken legal actions against Kurdish activists, bloggers and ordinary folks going about their day on the basis of vaguely defined “security laws,” the watchdog group said.
The most typical of these charges is “spreading false or exaggerated information that weakens national sentiment,” added the organization in a 73-page report called “Far From Justice: Syria’s Supreme State Security Court.”
The report noted that the largest category of defendants before the court in the last three years were those labeled “Islamist.’ Their chief “crime” appeared to have been possession CDs or books by fundamentalist clerics.
Nadim Houry, a senior researcher working on Syria and Lebanon for HRW, told the Los Angeles Times that the security court epitomizes injustice in Syria:
“Unfortunately, the engagement of the international community with Syria has not yielded any improvements in the conditions of human rights there. ... In the name of fighting terrorism, the net cast has been too wide, incriminating innocent people for holding beliefs and opinions. ... It is hard to expect Syria to act positively in the region if it does not act responsibly towards its citizens.”
The report comes at a time when the United States has declared its willingness to engage in a dialogue with Damascus and restore diplomatic ties with the country. Several delegations from the U.S. Congress have visited Syria since Barrack Obama became president.
But human rights organizations have urged the Obama administration to address Syria’s poor record of freedom of expression before opening up to the Syrians.
The U.S. has imposed an economic embargo on Syria for the past few years and has withdrawn its ambassador after accusing Damascus of fostering terrorism in Lebanon and Syria.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said:
“The State Security Court is one of Syria’s main pillars of repression. ... It’s a kangaroo court providing judicial cover for the persecution of activists, and even ordinary citizens, by Syria’s security agencies. Defendants have no chance of defending themselves, much less proving their innocence against the bogus charges brought against them.”
The security court resumed its activities in 1992 after a hiatus in the 1980s. The court has temporarily halted its activities since July 2008, after authorities violently quelled a riot at a prison in Saydnaya near Damascus.
HRW said this suspension was probably linked to the total blackout on information concerning the detainees of that jail and urged authorities to reveal the fate of the Saydnaya prisoners, mostly political inmates prosecuted by the security court.
-- Raed Rafei in Beirut