SYRIA PURSUES CASES AGAINST JUMBLATT AND KHADDAM

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 002401 SIPDIS SIPDIS PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/24/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM KCRM SY LB SUBJECT: SYRIA PURSUES CASES AGAINST JUMBLATT AND KHADDAM REF: DAM 1511 Classified By: CDA Kathy Johnson-Casares for reasons 1.4 b/d ¶1. (C) Syrian authorities have requested that Interpol arrest Lebanese lawmaker Walid Jumblatt after a Syrian military prosecutor issued a warrant on May 22, according to local media and contacts. A Syrian military court issued a summons for Jumblatt on May 3 for "inciting against Syria," following the filing of a private suit on similar charges by private Syrian lawyer Hossam a-din Habash, according to Damascus Associated Press bureau chief Albert Aji. Earlier this year, regional media reported that a Syrian court had issued subpoenas for Jumblatt and two other Lebanese after the Syrian lawyers syndicate accused the three in a court in the Lattakia region for "infringing on national unity" (reftel). Prominent local attorney Jacques Hakim dismissed the seriousness of the charges against Jumblatt, telling Polchief that politicians had immunity for speech made in the course of exercising their political functions. Hakim also called the charges against Jumblatt the product of a fearful, besieged regime. ¶2. (SBU) Habash has also filed criminal charges against former Syrian VP Abdul Halim Khaddam for encouraging the invasion of Syria and for establishing contacts with Israel, according to the AP. A military court indicted Khaddam on several charges, including conspiracy and attempts to usurp power and stir hostility against Syria, earlier this year, according to media reports. SARG authorities subsequently asked Interpol's office in France to hand over Khaddam, who is living in Paris, according to AP reports. Khaddam dismissed the seriousness of the charges and the validity of the Interpol request in a May 15 interview with the Daily Star of Lebanon. Khaddam asserted that Interpol is banned from interfering in cases related to politics, the military, ethnic and religious matters. As for establishing contacts with Israel, Khaddam noted that he had met (and been interviewed by) an Israeli Arab, an action that Syrian President Bashar al-Asad took regularly in meeting with Israeli Arab members of the Knesset. ¶3. (SBU) Syria's Prime Minister and Finance Minister have filed separate corruption charges in civil court against Khaddam and his extended family, seeking to seize the family assets in Syria, according to Aji. Khaddam and his wife and 23 family members have been summoned to appear in court in Banias on June 12, the AP reported. ¶4. (C) According to several of our contacts Habash is an opportunist who filed the cases against Jumblatt and Khaddam to make a name for himself. According to independent Syrian MP Basil Dahdouh, the SARG was using the military court cases to show its critics and the Syrian public that it would take strong action against its opponents. The SARG was also trying to show the international community that just as the UN has the authority to investigate Syrians in connection with the assassination of former Lebanese PM Hariri so too does the SARG have legal means to take action against its critics, Dahdouh said. ¶5. (C) Comment: Syria's legal system is opaque, and we have heard and seen several slightly different iterations of the myriad of charges against Jumblatt and Khaddam and regarding who is initiating the charges. Clearly, however, the SARG is using any means available to make life difficult for its opponents, even those outside the country. JOHNSON-CASARES