Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06DAMASCUS2517
2006-06-01 14:01:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Damascus
Cable title:  

WHILE ARRESTS SUBSIDE, SARG CONTINUES TO PRESSURE

Tags:  PHUM PGOV SY 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO4696
OO RUEHAG
DE RUEHDM #2517/01 1521401
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 011401Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9293
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 0073
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DAMASCUS 002517 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/2016
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SY
SUBJECT: WHILE ARRESTS SUBSIDE, SARG CONTINUES TO PRESSURE
DAMASCUS-BEIRUT DECLARATION SIGNATORIES TO WITHDRAW THEIR
SUPPORT


Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Stephen A. Seche for reasons 1.4(b)/(d
)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DAMASCUS 002517

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/2016
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SY
SUBJECT: WHILE ARRESTS SUBSIDE, SARG CONTINUES TO PRESSURE
DAMASCUS-BEIRUT DECLARATION SIGNATORIES TO WITHDRAW THEIR
SUPPORT


Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Stephen A. Seche for reasons 1.4(b)/(d
)


1. (C) SUMMARY: While the arrests of Damascus-Beirut
Declaration (DBD) signatories appear to have subsided for
now, post contacts report that the SARG continues to pressure
DBD signatories to withdraw their support of the Declaration.
In an attempt to quell international reaction to the
crackdown and to divide and weaken the opposition, the SARG
is utilizing a variety of tactics, carried out mainly by
State Security officials, including pressuring signatories to
publicly condemn the international community's recent
criticism of Syria, offering carrots and sticks to
organization leaders to delink their individual signatures
from their respective organizations, and distributing an
anti-DBD statement for intellectuals and activists to sign.
END SUMMARY.


2. (C) NO NEW ARRESTS, WHILE DETAINEES REMAIN AT AADRA:
Following the arrest wave of May 14-18 (reftel),the SARG has
for now ceased arresting signatories of the Damascus-Beirut
Declaration. Ten detained signatories remain incarcerated at
Aadra prison outside Damascus, where they have been refused
access to their lawyers since May 25. The men are being
housed in three separate groups, distributed among the
general Aadra prison population. Prominent human rights
lawyer Anwar al-Bunni also continues his hunger strike but
has not been joined by the other detainees.


3. (C) SARG TURNS TO STATE SECURITY TO PRESSURE ACTIVISTS:
Instead of relying on further arrests, the SARG is now using
its security apparatus to threaten and cajole activists into
distancing themselves from the DBD. Post contacts report
that many signatories have been subjected to further
harassment and/or interrogation by General Intelligence
Directorate (GID) State Security officers, who have been
relying on a variety of tactics to persuade signatories to
withdraw their support of the DBD.


4. (C) One tactic SARG officials are using is to convince
civil society activists to issue statements condemning
"foreign intervention in Syrian domestic affairs," defined by

the pro-SARG press as UNSCR 1680, as well as the EU and USG
statements condemning the detention of DBD signatories.
Opposition activist and former Damascus Spring detainee Walid
al-Bunni told Poloff May 31 that Vice-President Najah
al-Attar contacted signatory Hussein al-Oudat and asked that
25 of the signatories denounce foreign interference and admit
that the DBD signatories did not intend for the statement to
be published while UNSCR 1680 was being debated, in exchange
for the release of the detained signatories. Human rights
lawyer Khalil Maatouk claimed that the SARG finds itself in a
difficult situation following the European Union's statement
condemning the arrests and may be trying to use activists'
statements condemning foreign interference in order to defuse
international tensions over the arrests. Human rights lawyer
Haithem al-Maleh (who did not sign the DBD) told Poloff May
24 that the SARG had approached the Damascus Declaration
group (as distinct from the DBD group),asking them to
publish a statement asserting that the signatories of the DBD
had not considered the negative implications of the DBD,
particularly in terms of the so-called "foreign
intervention." According to contacts, this tactic has failed
so far, with signatories refusing to condemn the
international community's statements on Syria.


5. (C) Another tactic the SARG continues to use is offering
carrots and sticks to the leaders of Syria's unregistered
human rights organizations in order to persuade them to
publicly declare they had signed the declaration as
individuals and not on behalf of their respective
organizations. National Organization for Human Rights in
Syria (NOHR) president Ammar Qurrabi commented to Poloff May
30 that the SARG is intent on discrediting members of the
opposition, making them look wishy-washy and like "liars."
The defense lawyers of signatories Anwar Bunni, Nidal
Darwish, and Mohammed Mur'i, all currently in detention, were
told by State Security officials that their clients could be
released if the three men agree to sign such a statement.
Qurrabi, who has been called in for interrogation by State
Security three times over the last week, acquiesced to
signing a similar statement after Fuad Nassif Kheirbek, the
director of State Security Internal Branch (Branch 251),
threatened to arrest him, Maatouk, and fellow NOHR activist
Habib Issa if he did not sign. Qurrabi signed, citing the
desire to protect the rest of the NOHR membership from
persecution. Qurrabi was also asked to write a letter to

DAMASCUS 00002517 002 OF 003


President Bashar al-Asad on behalf of NOHR, asking for the
release of the ten signatories and admitting their guilt, but
refused to sign. Qurrabi noted that another organization,
the Arab Organization for Human Rights, had complied with
that request and speculated that their decision was due to
the detention of two of their members. Human rights activist
Rezan Zeitunah harshly criticized the organizations for
giving into the security services' wishes, questioning why
anyone fearing arrest and detention would even work in the
opposition, adding that it was unfair to those already in
detention.


6. (C) SOME DBD SIGNATORIES DENYING PARTICIPATION UNDER
DURESS: Qurrabi and Maleh both noted that a number of
signatories have since publicly and privately denied signing
the statement. While Maleh accepted as plausible that a
number of individuals had been included without their
permission, Qurrabi felt that these denials were being made
under pressure from State Security and to avoid arrest or
long-term detention. Qurrabi cited the example of a number
of individuals briefly detained by security authorities May
14-20 who had made such denials to SARG authorities. They
later admitted to their friends that their denials were
essentially false but had been made because they wanted to
avoid going to jail. SARG press sources have publicized such
denials: the pro-SARG Cham Press news website quoted judicial
sources as saying "many signatories denied that they had
signed the petition." The sources added that there will be no
more arrests in this matter, because "some did not read the
petition and were pushed to sign it by others and some denied
any link with the petition." However, such assurances of an
end to the arrest wave have not ended activists' fear of
security-service harassment, as a number of post contacts who
signed the DBD have declined to meet with Emboffs, citing
security concerns.


7. (C) SARG DISTRIBUTES NEW ANTI-DBD STATEMENT: According
to post contacts, Dr. Nizar Mayhoub, the head of the Syrian
Public Relations Society, a SARG-controlled "NGO" (operating
under the wing of the Ministry of Information),is
circulating a draft statement criticizing the DBD for
signature by "Syrian intellectuals." The draft accuses the
DBD signatories of supporting US intervention in the region,
calls UNSCR 1680 a violation of the UN Charter, and
criticizes the EU for ignoring human rights violations by
Israel and the U.S. in Palestine and Iraq. It closes by
asking the Syrian President to "be generous enough to issue
his orders to release detainees of the Beirut-Damascus
Declaration." Qurrabi added that the statement is being
circulated among activists, writers, and intellectuals with
close SARG and security service ties. Some of them have
approached him and a number of other DBD signatories to ask
them to join the condemnation of the DBD. (NOTE: During his
meeting with Poloff, Qurrabi received two calls from
"activist" Abdullah al-Fawwaz, strongly encouraging him to
sign the condemnation. Fawwaz is the husband of Rihab Bitar,
the leader of the Free Democratic Alliance (FDA) party, which
is widely considered to be SARG-sanctioned and possibly even
SARG-financed.) Bitar and human rights activist Abdulkarim
al-Rihawi were among those names included as signatories to
the draft statement.


8. (C) COMMENT: The use of a palette of strategies to
discredit the DBD and its signatories demonstrates the
strength and sophistication of SARG security agencies and the
weakness of the opposition in failing to withstand these
efforts. The successful attempt to divide and conquer human
rights organizations and their memberships and the success of
pressure on the activists to deny their participation show
that for now, fear and intimidation are prevailing. If the
SARG succeeds sufficiently with these tactics in discrediting
the DBD by smearing its supporters, it may feel more relaxed
about dispensing with the trumped-up charges and finding a
pretext for releasing those who have been detained. Some of
our savviest contacts, however, gauging the current hard-line
posture the regime has embraced, are not at all confident
that the regime will proceed in such a benevolent fashion.
While the aggressive pressure tactics by the security
services, short of detention, on other signatories and
affiliated organizations could indicate the regime is
considering a way to defuse the situation and mute
international criticism, it could also be an indication that,
using all kinds of tactics, it will not cease its efforts
until it has effectively destroyed the legitimacy of the
Damascus-Beirut Declaration and that of every one of its
Syrian signatories. For good measure, those who were
arrested will serve out their time in jail. It will become

DAMASCUS 00002517 003 OF 003


more clear in the coming days which path the regime will opt
for.
SECHE