HUMAN RIGHTS ROUNDUP: PROMINENT ACTIVIST CONSIDERS

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 006509

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SY
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS ROUNDUP: PROMINENT ACTIVIST CONSIDERS
RELOCATION TO EUROPE; HUMAN RIGHTS DAY DEMONSTRATION
STOPPED BY POLICE; GOETHE INSTITUTE LECTURE ON IRAQ POLICY
CANCELLED

REF: DAMASCUS 6075

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



1. (C) PROMINENT ACTIVIST MULLS RELOCATION TO UK: Civil
society and women's rights activist Maan Abdul Salaam told
PolOff and visiting NEA Senior Advisor David Denehy on
December 7 that he is considering relocating to the United
Kingdom following recent difficulties with Syrian security
services. Abdul Salaam, the owner of the Etana Press
publishing house, organized the recent conference on Women
and Tradition (reftel). During the conference, Abdul Salaam
distributed copies of a book by journalist Louay Hossein
highly critical of the hejab (the Islamic headscarf.)


2. (C) Despite having received official permission from the
Ministry of Information for the publication and distribution
of the book, Abdul Salaam came under enormous official and
unofficial criticism following the conference. He received
threats from Islamists, the University of Damascus, and the
University security apparatus. After receiving a summons to
appear at meeting with the security services, Abdul Salaam
fled to Lebanon for ten days and only returned to Syria
because was unable to depart Lebanon for a third country
without his Syrian passport. Abdul Salaam then met the head
of an unidentified security branch for a five and a half hour
interrogation on December 1, during which he received a
lecture on the importance of Islam from his Ba'athist
interrogator and was threatened with three years in prison.
Abdul Salaam informed Poloff and Senior Advisor Denehy that
he would be traveling to London in late December to
investigate the potential of relocating to the UK where he
feels he could work more independently and without government
interference.


3. (C) SMALL HUMAN RIGHTS DEMONSTRATION SHUT DOWN BY
POLICE: A small demonstration held by Kurdish activists to
commemorate Human Rights Day was broken up by police forces
on December 10. According to human rights activist Anwar
al-Bunni, approximately 50-100 Kurds attended the rally held
in Saba'a Bahrad Square near the Central Bank of Syria.
About 200 police officers were also present. They disrupted
the demonstration and began beating demonstrators with
sticks. However, no demonstrators were arrested. According
to Bunni, the event was organized by the Kurdish Azadi,
Yekiti, and Kurdish Tayer Mustaqbal parties; other opposition
groups, including the Damascus Declaration supporters, chose
not to participate, feeling that such an act would be too
dangerous and they did not want to "put themselves in front
of the gun," according to Bunni.


4. (C) GERMAN CULTURAL CENTER FORCED TO CANCEL EVENT: The
Damascus branch of the Goethe Institute, the worldwide German
cultural organization, was forced to cancel a lecture by
leading civil society activist Abdul Razzaq Eid on Aspects of
Germany's Iraq Policy. The Goethe Institute management
distributed an e-mail to its mailing list on December 11,
informing subscribers that the lecture was canceled "as we
were not granted permission for the Arabic contribution."
According to a German diplomat, Razzaq Eid's presentation
made heavy use of veiled language about the Iraqi Ba'ath
Party to criticize the Syrian Ba'ath Party. (NOTE: The
Goethe Institute has held a number of similar lectures
throughout the fall, featuring other prominent Syrians like
Michel Kilo and MP Suleiman Haddad.)
SECHE