MFA OPEN TO FURTHER INTERVENTIONS ON SYRIA HUMAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 003226

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 5/15/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM PHUM SY FR
SUBJECT: MFA OPEN TO FURTHER INTERVENTIONS ON SYRIA HUMAN
RIGHTS, WILL CONSULT WITH EMBASSY IN DAMASCUS

REF: STATE 77093

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt, reasons
1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) POLOFF discussed reftel points on the deteriorating
human rights situation in Syria with MFA DAS-equivalent for
Egypt/Levant affairs Herve Besancenot May 15, urging a more
forceful GoF public stance. While agreeing that SARG
repression had increased, Besancenot conceded that the French
embassy in Damascus had not reported on all the cases noted
in our talking points. He pledged to seek further
information from the French mission in Damascus, and
concluded that the GoF was open to making further public
statements on Syria's human rights situation, to follow up on
the April 4 MFA statement expressing concern over the
sentencing of Abdel Sattar Qattane and Riad Darrar.

2, (C) Besancenot concluded that the increased SARG
repression was a likely indicator that the SARG felt less
threatened by international pressure and that it could return
to "business as usual" in suppressing its population. POLOFF
countered that it was debatable what motivated the SARG
crackdown; what mattered most was that the international
community must not remain silent and should not allow the
SARG to commit such acts with impunity. A forceful and vocal
international response would disabuse the SARG of the notion
of subsiding international pressure, and could make the
difference in securing the release of those detained.


3. (C) Comment: In the past, Besancenot had suggested to us
vague doubts about Kamal Labowani's credibility and character
as a civil society activist, as justification for GoF silence
on Labowani's arrest. This time, Besancenot raised no such
insinuations and sounded more sympathetic, in response to
poloff's emphasis on the gravity of Labowani's situation and
possible death sentence. We will continue to press the GoF
to take a more vocal stance on Syrian human rights and would
welcome any additional details we can share with French
counterparts. The April 4 MFA spokesman's statement, while a
welcome step, was terse and not nearly as forceful, for
example, as GoF statements criticizing the human rights
situation in Iran, which have been issued at the FM level.
Besancenot's lack of familiarity with some of the most
egregious recent human rights developments suggests lack of
engagement on his part or that of the French embassy in
Damascus, which we understand has been essentially cut off by
the SARG. End comment.

Please visit Paris' Classified Website at:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm

Stapleton