SYRIAN GOVERNMENT PREVENTS HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FROM

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DAMASCUS 000579 SIPDIS SIPDIS PARIS FOR WALLER; LONDON FOR TSOU E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/10/2017 TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL SY SUBJECT: SYRIAN GOVERNMENT PREVENTS HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FROM MEETING Classified By: CDA William Roebuck, for reasons 1.4 b/d. ¶1. (C) Summary. Syrian security services in early June forcibly prevented the most recent monthly meeting of the Human Rights Association of Syria (HRAS) which was to be held at the office of prominent human rights lawyer Haithem al-Maleh. Although the security services are known for arbitrarily harassing human rights activists, it is unclear why the security services chose this moment to prevent a regularly scheduled meeting. Possible explanations range from interest in expanding HRAS activities, arbitrary harassment by the security services, or a broader clamping down on meetings by oppostion and human rights groups. End summary. -------------- -- Human Rights Meeting Cancelled -------------- -- ¶2. (C) Prominent human rights lawyer and former president of the Human Rights Association of Syria (HRAS),Haithem al-Maleh, told Poloff in a June 3 meeting that on June 2 a combination of uniformed and plain-clothes security agents prevented the monthly meeting of the HRAS, which is usually held in Maleh,s office in the Baramkeh district of Damascus. Maleh said that he was unsure why the security services decided to harass that particular meeting but said it may have had something to do with the roll-out of the HRAS annual report, which occurred late in the week of May 27, and/or heightened SARG repression of any dissent activity in the aftermath of the May 27 presidential referendum. ¶3. (C) Alternately, the security services may have hoped to disrupt the HRAS general conference, which is normally scheduled for this time of year although the exact date has yet to be determined, according to Muhammad Fawaz who is an HRAS member and son of current HRAS president Fayez Fawaz. Still others in the opposition, such as Syrian Human Rights Organization president Muhannad al-Hasani, speculated that the most recent shut down of an HRAS meeting is routine, citing the fact that security services had done so frequently in the past. ¶4. (C) Maleh expressed to poloff his desire to expand HRAS activities in the upcoming months saying he wanted to turn the HRAS into more of an organizing force with special attention paid to youth activities. Maleh asked poloff for advice on how the HRAS could get their website up and running again after it had been shut down by Syrian security. -------------- Defender of Islamists -------------- ¶5. (C) The 73-year-old Maleh was previously imprisoned for nearly five years during the 1980s for his connection to Islamists. There are persistent rumors that his ties to Islamists have prevented the regime from taking a harder line against him. Currently, despite his semi-retirement, Maleh remains an active human rights lawyer and as such represents hundreds of alleged Islamists. A staunch supporter of human rights and a regime critic, he is also highly critical of USG policy in the region, in part for what he sees as the double standard with regard to prisoners of conscious. Maleh often decries the fact that liberal, secular dissidents like imprisoned political reformer Kamal Labwani or jailed civil society activist Anwar al-Bunni elicit concern from western governments and international NGOs while hundreds of alleged Islamists sit in prison, without significant protest from the West, on what he sees as spurious charges and without access to a fair trial. According to Maleh, the SARG continues to arrest and sentence large numbers of suspected Islamists to demonstrate to western governments that the only alternative to the Asad regime is an Islamic, fundamentalist state. The regime believes it can retain power if the choice is presented to the West in such stark terms, according to Maleh. ¶6. (C) Maleh used the example of Asim Basheer to elucidate his point. According to Maleh, Basheer was the owner of a bookshop and the Imam of a local mosque in al-Tel, a town about 10 miles north of Damascus. Basheer was arrested with ten others and accused of belonging to an illegal Salafist-Wahhabist organization on August 14, 2004. Maleh said that the only evidence presented by the government DAMASCUS 00000579 002 OF 002 against Basheer was that he was in possession of a CD that had some Islamist speeches on it. In fact, the government was even unable to prove that the CD belonged to Basheer, Maleh contested. The Supreme State Security Court found Basheer guilty and sentenced him to ten years in prison on February 11, 2007. (Note: Post has been unable to independently ascertain the level of Basheer's involvement in militant Islamist activities. End Note.) ¶7. (C) Comment: Post is not sure why the security services took action against HRAS at this time but a number of explanations are possible, including the ones offered by Maleh and Fawaz. Alternately, the security services could have arbitrarily decided to break up the June 2 meeting, as suggested by Hasani. Another possibility, however, is that the security services have been warned to prevent any meetings by known regime critics, especially those close to Islamists, in light of the Damascus Declaration efforts to organize a National Congress soon, which we understand will include moderate Islamists. ROEBUCK