Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05DAMASCUS5832
2005-11-07 15:10:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Damascus
Cable title:  

BASHAR PARDONS 190 POLITICAL PRISONERS TO SHORE UP

Tags:  PGOV PHUM SY 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 005832 

SIPDIS

PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/06/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SY
SUBJECT: BASHAR PARDONS 190 POLITICAL PRISONERS TO SHORE UP
"NATIONAL UNITY"

Classified By: CDA Stephen Seche for reasons 1.4(b)/(d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 005832

SIPDIS

PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/06/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SY
SUBJECT: BASHAR PARDONS 190 POLITICAL PRISONERS TO SHORE UP
"NATIONAL UNITY"

Classified By: CDA Stephen Seche for reasons 1.4(b)/(d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: A November 3 presidential decree granted
amnesty to 190 Syrian political prisoners as part of reforms
aimed at shoring up "national unity." The majority of freed
prisoners were associated with Islamist groups; conspicuously
absent from the parolees were the six remaining "Damascus
Spring" activists, in jail since 2001. This is the most
recent in a series of amnesties President Bashar al-Asad has
signed since taking office. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) President Bashar al-Asad pardoned 190 political
prisoners on November 3, coinciding with the Muslim festival
of Eid al-Fitr, which signals the end of the holy month of
Ramadan. According to the official Syrian Arab News Agency,
SANA, the pardons are part of a comprehensive reform policy
"aimed at strengthening national unity" and one of a series
of similar steps taken in recent years to "strengthen the
internal front and firmly establish national dialogue." SANA
noted that other measures will be taken to demonstrate that
"the homeland has room for all." (NOTE: Such pardons at this
time of the year are a normal part of the judicial landscape
throughout the Arab world, although it is less common for
governments to portray them, as SANA did, as part of a
"reform policy" that will enhance national unity. END NOTE.)


3. (C) The vast majority of pardoned prisoners had been
jailed for Islamist sympathies, according to prominent human
rights activist and lawyer, Haitham al-Maleh. A number of
human rights activists were also granted amnesty, including
Atassi Forum member Ali al-Abdullah and Arab Human Rights
Organization President Mohammed Radoun, both of whom were
imprisoned in the past six months. Noticeably absent from
the list are any of the six remaining Damascus Spring
detainees, including jailed MPs Riad Seif and Mamoun
al-Homsi. According to Maleh, four prisoners, including
Radoun and Abdullah, were released from Aadra prison and 186
prisoners were freed from the Sednaya prison, including 101
Muslim Brotherhood associates, six Hizb a-Tahrir party
associates, 13 Salafists, 20 Iraqi Ba'ath Party members, and
20 Palestinian activists.


4. (C) Prominent human rights activist Anwar al-Bunni noted
that most of those released had been long-term detainees. He
stated that many of the released Muslim Brothers' convictions
were based on nominal ties to MB and that some detainees had
been minors at the time of their arrest.

5. (C) These pardons are the latest in a series of mass
amnesty declarations made by President Bashar al-Asad since
he took office in 2000. Maleh noted to Poloff that
approximately 300 political prisoners are still held at
Sednaya prison, including 32 Hizb a-Tahrir Party associates,
156 Taqfir-wal-Hijra fundamentalists, and another hundred
held on charges relating to "collusion with the enemy."
Bunni added that 100 Kurds are also held at Sednaya. While
contacts like Bunni and Maleh report up to 400 political
prisoners known with some certainty to still be in government
prisons, they worry that SARG security services may be
holding a significant number of others in non-official
detention centers.
SECHE