UPDATE - LABWANI'S TREATMENT IN PRISON

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 000134 SIPDIS SIPDIS PARIS FOR WALLER; LONDON FOR TSOU E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/11/2017 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM SY SUBJECT: UPDATE - LABWANI'S TREATMENT IN PRISON Classified By: CDA Michael Corbin, for reasons 1.4 b/d. ¶1. (C) Summary. On February 10, Poloff met with the family of imprisoned political activist Kamal Labwani to check his status. Family members reported that Labwani had recently been returned to his normal cell, after having spent six days confined to a dark, dirty underground cell. Family members also reported that during an early February prison visit Labwani had appeared tired but focused on his upcoming February 27 court date. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Family members of imprisoned Syrian human rights activist Kamal Labwani told Poloff February 10 that Kamal had recently been confined to a dark, dirty cell for six days. He has since been allowed to return to his normal prison cell. Labwani's wife Sumer told Poloff that during a recent prison visit after the special confinement, Labwani had appeared tired but focused on his upcoming February 27 court date. ¶3. (C) Sumer Labwani reported that Kamal was one of several prisoners who were confined to an underground cell. She also indicated that prison authorities - reacting to a January 25 prison riot - had shaved the heads of several prisoners at Adra'a prison and had confiscated all of their personal items, including Labwani's. (Note: Another contact reported separately that prison authorities had shaved the heads of all the prisoners, in responding to the riot. End Note.) Sumer said that Labwani drew a connection between the riot and the treatment he had received, reporting that in his view he had been confined to the underground cell by prison authorities as a punishment for getting caught telling family members about the riot. According to Sumer, Labwani also believed that he had somehow angered the instigators of the riot, who in response had made threats against him. However, Sumer denied anecdotal reports that Labwani had been beaten in the wake of the riot and the ensuing confinement to an underground cell. ¶4. (C) Kamal Labwani was originally detained in November 2005 upon his return from the U.S. and charged with encouraging a foreign power to invade Syria during a time of war. Since being indicted on April 29, 2006, Labwani has made 10 additional appearances at the Criminial Court. CORBIN