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