SEIDNAYA PRISON RIOTS STIR CONSPIRACY THEORIES

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 000482

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/07/2018
TAGS: PHUM PREF PREL SY
SUBJECT: SEIDNAYA PRISON RIOTS STIR CONSPIRACY THEORIES

Classified By: Classified by POL/ECON Chief Tim Pounds, for reasons
1.4 b and d.


1. (C) Summary: During a July 5 routine sweep by military
police trainees at the Sednaya Prison (located 20 miles NW of
Damascus),violence erupted between inmates and guards and
resulted in some 25 deaths and 90 injuries. As of COB on
July 7, the hostage crisis was still continuing. The SARG
issued a brief press statement on July 6 and has restricted
media coverage since. Speculation continues on how the
demonstration started and the affiliations of people
involved. Human rights and security contacts suggest the
majority of the prison population are Kurdish and Islamists.
To our knowledge, no Amcits or any of the Embassy's human
rights contacts are in the Sednaya facility. End Summary.

Timeline of Events
--------------


2. (C) At approximately 6:00AM local time on July 5, a group
of military police trainees arrived at Sednaya to conduct a
routine sweep of inmate quarters. (Note: Sources tell us
Sednaya hosts a large number of &hard political prisoners8
including Kurds, Islamists, Communists, and even members of
the military who have committed a crime.) Prisoners
physically overpowered an unknown number of these officers,
took their weapons, and held them hostage. Those MPs who
were able to escape phoned for help and reinforcements, which
arrived and entered the facility shortly thereafter.
According to local sources, these reinforcements entered the
chaotic situation and fired into the crowd, killing
approximately 25 and leaving 90 injured. Several human
rights contacts told us they were unable to confirm reports
by websites outside of Syria that the troops had fired
indiscriminately on prisoners.


3. (C) According to an RSO source, military personnel
continued their assault and were able to separate prisoners
not involved in the violence and evacuated them to the roof
as the riots continued into the afternoon. As the riots
continued, some prisoners were able to access cell phones to
make calls to lawyers, family, and reporters. Military
officials brought in ambulances to transport the wounded
prisoners to nearby Tishreen hospital.


4. (C) At approximately 1500, the military attempted to
negotiate via cell phone with prisoner Samir Bahar, an
alleged "Islamist" who acted as spokesman. According to one
source, the military articulated two demands: 1) end the
riots; and (2) immediately release the military hostages.
Bahar reportedly replied that the prisoners were prepared to
end the violence and release the hostages if they could
secure a guarantee there would be no retaliation against the
prisoners by the military forces. (Note: One source estimates
there are between 40 to 100 soldiers being held by the
prisoners.) No agreement was reached, and by 1630 security
forces had cut off phone lines, electricity, and water in the
prison and the surrounding area. Government, press, and human
rights contacts confirmed reports of continuing violence into
the morning of July 7.

SARG Seeks to Control the Story
--------------


5. (C) After heavy regional and international press coverage
on July 6, the SARG instructed locally based reporters to
discontinue reporting on the story. Two human rights
contacts who gave public interviews to Arab media outlets
received threats of imprisonment from the state security
services if they continued to speak publicly. The SARG also
reportedly blocked access to roads near the prison.


6. (C) Following SARG instructions, the local Syrian press
ignored the story. On July 6, the SARG broke its silence on
the Sednaya violence and issued a short statement through
state-run news outlet SANA, saying that the "prisoners
convicted of extremism and terrorism" were responsible for
the violence, and military forces immediately intervened to
"restore calm to the prison."


7. (SBU) Paris and London-based opposition websites (citing
unnamed opposition sources in Beirut) claimed the riots were
spurred by mistreatment of prisoners. Another story suggested
prison guards were defiling the Koran in order to anger the
Islamist prisoners and incite violence. Thus far, media
reports have not put this current prison uprising into the
broader context of another Sednaya riot earlier this year in
protest of inhumane living conditions.

Conspiracy Theory Frenzy
--------------


8. (SBU) Conflicting media accounts have generated a number
of explanations about what may have actually happened and who
was behind it these events. Pro-government contacts are
pointing to accusations by opposition websites outside of
Syria that were quick to allege mistreatment of prisoners.
Some Syrians were suggesting that opposition websites were
acting in cooperation with prison rioters in an attempt to
embarrass President Asad days before his planned departure
for the Mediterranean Union Summit in Paris.


9. (SBU) Another story making the rounds is that security
services themselves provoked these events in order to
undermine the SARG's ongoing engagement of Israel and the
West. We have also heard the SARG is blaming the Saudis for
fomenting this violence among Islamist prisoners in Syria,
and provoking a government crackdown in order to embarrass
the Asad regime.

Follow Up
--------------


10. (C) Contacts from the Canadian, French, British, and
German embassies say they are not currently planning to issue
a statement or advise their capitals to do so, but we have
heard that the German, French, and UK ambassadors are
considering a joint approach to FM Muallem to seek
clarification and express concern about protecting innocents.


11. (SBU) To the best of our knowledge there are no American
citizens currently held in the Sednaya facility.

CORBIN