DETAINEES REJECT PROPOSED LETTER TO ASAD, AS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DAMASCUS 002688

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/08/2016
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SY
SUBJECT: DETAINEES REJECT PROPOSED LETTER TO ASAD, AS
PROPOSAL ITSELF CAUSES MORE DIVISIONS IN CIVIL SOCIETY

REF: DAMASCUS 02517

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


1. (C) SUMMARY: A number of detained signatories of the
Damascus-Beirut Declaration (DBD) have rejected a proposed
letter of appeal to President Bashar al-Asad, saying that
they would rather die in prison for their freedom of
expression than to beg. They have also announced their plans
to begin a hunger strike, and will be joined by a number of
fellow Adraa detainees held on opposition-related charges.
Accusations that the proposed letter represents an act of
collaboration with the security services have caused a flurry
of denunciations and recriminations within the human rights
community, leading to one major activist resigning from his
organization. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) According to post contacts, a group of five lawyers
met on June 3 with the DBD detainees to discuss their
physical well-being and legal strategies. During the
meeting, human rights lawyer and Syrian Human Rights
Organization (SWASIAH) president Mohanned al-Hassani
presented the four DBD detainees who admitted to authorities
to signing the declaration (Anwar al-Bunni, Michel Kilo,
Nidal Darwish, and Mahmoud Mur'i) with a draft letter to
President Bashar al-Asad, asking him for release from
detainment. (NOTE: The other six accused signatories denied
signing the DBD during interrogation, but most observers
believe they did in fact sign. END NOTE) Hassani told Poloff
on June 5 that the detainees flatly rejected the idea of
signing it, with Michel Kilo responding that "we'll die here
to defend our freedom of expression" and "don't beg for us in
the letter." The ten DBD detainees, along with Ali and
Mohammed Abdullah, Kamal Labwani, and Fatteh Jammous, plan to
begin a hunger strike on June 13. Bunni's brother, Akram
al-Bunni, has told the press that Anwar had ended his hunger
strike on June 4.


3. (C) Meanwhile, the origins of the draft letter to the
President have led to a flurry of discussion within the human
rights community. Hassani told Poloff that the letter
originated from his meeting with Rassem al-Attasi of the Arab
Human Rights Organization (AHRO),and Danial Sauud of the
Committee for the Defense of Democratic Liberties and Human
Rights in Syria (CDF),and had been formally drafted by a
SWASIAH board member. Hassani explained the proposal as an
act of conflict resolution by the human rights organizations,
which, in Hassani's eyes, should be neutral and not act as
members of the opposition. Hassani told Poloff that he then
later floated the proposal to a number of other civil society
representatives, including National Democratic Front (NDF)
spokesman Hassan Abdulazeem, activists Hazem Naher and George
Sabraa, and Akram Bunni. Hassani said that only Abdulazeem
fully supported the proposal. When asked about the
similarities between the proposed detainee letter and draft
letters to Asad circulated last week by SARG security
services among non-detained signatories (reftel),Hassani
ducked the question, answering that if the proposal been
coordinated with security agents, there would have been no
need to seek the other organizations' opinions.


4. (C) Hassani's explanation of the letter's origins,
however, have been greeted with skepticism and denunciation
by other actors in the human rights field, who view it as a
product of Hassani's (and possibly others') collaboration
with the security services. Damascus Center for Human Rights
Studies (DCHRS) director Radwan Zyadeh expressed his disgust
at Hassani's project June 5 to Poloff and said that the
letter was clearly written in cooperation with security
services. Zyadeh added, however, that the DBD detentions are
an element in the battle for freedom of expression and that
civil society needed to focus on this fact and end the
infighting. He also noted that he would be traveling to
Cairo June 6 to meet with lawyers from a variety of regional
and international human rights organizations to strategize on
the DBD case.


5. (C) A chain of conflicts and recriminations has
followed in the wake of Hassani's initiative, as a group of
activists published a press release on June 7, condemning
Hassani's "attempts to promote one of his security bargains
during his visit." They also took issue with his claims that
the initiative was a cooperative endeavor among some
opposition parties and human rights organizations. The
statement's signatories declared their "complete boycott" of
Hassani and "urged all professional and media institutions
not to deal with Hassani." Major signatories included Ammar

DAMASCUS 00002688 002 OF 002


Qurrabi, the head of the National Organization of Human
Rights (NOHR),and the heads of several other small human
rights groups, including Abdulkarim al-Rihawi. According to
post contacts, Qurrabi signed on behalf of NOHR without
receiving permission from the entire board of directors.
Qurrabi's unilateral action prompted still further
bureaucratic bloodletting, with NOHR board member and key
human rights lawyer Khalil Maatouk resigning from NOHR on
June 7, citing his anger over Qurrabi's failure to consult
with the NOHR board before taking action.


6. (C) COMMENT: Hassani's version of events is probably not
accurate and indicates an uneasiness about SARG security
services' influence over his actions. Rihawi and Qurrabi's
willingness to so publicly smear one of their fellow
activists is curiously timed, only a week after making their
own public statements at the behest of the security services
(reftel). It is clear that at least some activists like
Zyadeh recognize that the SARG is manipulating the human
rights movement, so as to divide and weaken it, especially in
the wake of the release of the Damascus-Beirut Declaration,
which so angered the regime. These activists are looking for
means to counter the SARG's interference, although the events
of this week show that this search has so far been in vain
and that the SARG has won another round in its drive to
divide civil society, and to shift the focus away from the
activists it has imprisoned, as well as to undermine the
legitimacy and support shown for the DBD.
SECHE