"LENIENT" SENTENCE FOR KURDISH PROTESTERS AS SARG

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 000650 SIPDIS PARIS FOR JORDAN; LONDON FOR TSOU E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/15/2018 TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL SY SUBJECT: "LENIENT" SENTENCE FOR KURDISH PROTESTERS AS SARG CONTINUES ROUND-UP OF KURDISH LEADERS REF: A. 2005 DAMASCUS 2615 ¶B. 2005 DAMASCUS 2871 ¶C. 2005 DAMASCUS 2942 ¶D. 2006 DAMASCUS 0686 Classified By: CDA Maura Connelly for reasons 1.5 band d. ¶1. (C) Summary: Fifty Kurds who had been arrested in 2005 for participating in a demonstration following the mysterious death of Kurdish leader Sheikh Mashook Khaznawi received six-month sentences, the minimum sentence allowed by Syrian law, on September 14. But a recent spate of arrests of an untold number of senior Kurdish oppositionists and human rights leaders, including Mashaal Tammo and most recently Abdul Baqi Khalaf, suggest the SARG is undertaking a more organized campaign to stamp out dissent. End Summary. -------------- 2005 PROTESTERS SENTENCED -------------- ¶2. (C) After a series of postponements and delays lasting nearly three years, 50 Kurds who participated in demonstrations in June 2005 following the suspicious death of Sheikh Mashook Khaznawi were sentenced on September 14 to six-month prison terms for violating article 307. The court extended "clemency" to those Kurds who attended any portion of the trial, held at the Military Court in central Damascus, with reduced sentences of four months. ¶3. (C) PolOff attended the sentencing hearing and counted between two and five of those Kurds charged in attendance. Given the length of the trial and persistent delays, many of the Kurds charged in this case had long since stopped making the lengthy trek from the northern Syrian city of Qamishli to Damascus, a nearly 10 hour drive each way. ¶4. (C) A six month sentence represents the minimum allowable length of imprisonment for violating article 307 of the penal code. This article prescribes a six month to two year prison term for any act, writing or speech that aims to cause unrest or conflict between different sects or ethnic groups. ¶5. (C) One Kurdish human right contact expressed her surprise and relief at the sentences meted out by the SARG given its track record on similar cases, but added that it is "ridiculous" for anyone to receive such a lengthy sentence for simply participating in a demonstration. She noted that most of the men had spent some months in prison before being released on bail in August 2006 (reftel D) and that "they had served too much time already." -------------- SARG ROUND-UP OF KURDISH LEADERS -------------- ¶6. (C) The "leniency" displayed at this trial belied an on-going SARG round-up of Kurdish human rights and opposition leaders. Most recently, human rights activists Abdul Baqi Khalaf disappeared from his shop on September 7. (Note: SARG security services often hold human rights and oppositionists in secrecy for weeks before handing them over to the criminal, military or security courts.) Others arrested include the Secretary of the Kurdish Leftist Party Mohamed Moussa, arrested in mid-July, Mashaal Tammo, spokesman of the Kurdish Future Movement and his deputy Amran al-Saed, arrested in mid-August. ¶7. (C) Diplomatic and Kurdish contact have been unable to shed any light on potential SARG motivations. Some sources suggest that Syria's rapprochement with the French and movement on the Israel/Syrian peace talks may have emboldened the SARG and may have provided some "breathing room" on the human right file for the SARG. ¶8. (C) Comment: Though some European diplomatic contacts are arguing Syria is responding positively on human right issues in response to Western engagement, few Syrian contacts believe the SARG will modify its hard-line policy anytime soon. The recent arrests and disappearances of a number Kurdish human rights and opposition leaders such as Tammo and Moussa suggest the SARG is undertaking an organized campaign of targeting Kurdish leaders and remains eager to suppress voices of conscience, particularly those with a Kurdish accent. End Comment. CONNELLY