SARG IMPRISONS PROMINENT HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 000534

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA, DRL/NESCA
NSC FOR MCDERMOTT/SHAPIRO
LONDON FOR TSOU, PARIS FOR MILLER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/31/2019
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KDEM KMPI KPAO SOCI SY
SUBJECT: SARG IMPRISONS PROMINENT HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER

REF: A. DAMASCUS 00006

B. 08 DAMASCUS 00885

C. 08 DAMASCUS 00517

D. 08 DAMASCUS 00482

Classified By: CDA a.i. Ray Maxwell for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) This cable contains an action request; please see
para 10.


2. (C) Summary: In what may be its highest profile arrest
since the 2007 round-up of Damascus Declaration members, the
General Intelligence Directorate (GID) invited human rights
lawyer Muhanad al-Hasani to its offices on July 28 for an
interrogation session that resulted in arrest and
incarceration in Adra prison, according to local contacts.
Al-Hasani previously had told us he was under increasing
pressure following publications in the international press
and by international NGOs on the Syrian State Security Court
(SSSC) and Sednaya prison, for which security officials
believed him to be a significant source. While the SARG did
not make public the arrest, local contacts told us al-Hasani
was being charged with (1) operating an NGO without a
license; (2) weakening national morale in a time of war; and
(3) spreading false information to undermine the state in a
time of war. Based on conversations with al-Hasani over the
last six months, it appears the SARG had been slowly building
a case against him. Al-Hasani's regular, electronically
published statements chronicling SSSC trials, his
investigations into the Sednaya prison riots (reftels),his
leadership of the Syrian Organization for Human Rights
(SWASIAH),and his human rights and civil society activist
client-base had raised his visibility with security services.
Derogatory reports filed by three prominent civil society
figures, al-Hasani alleged, had been submitted recently to
the SARG's National Security Office (NSO). These reports,
probably produced under duress, may have provided the
necessary catalyst for the security agents to move against
al-Hasani. END SUMMARY.

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BACKGROUND
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3. (C) Following a string of stories on Sednaya prison and
the SSSC in 2008 and early 2009, al-Hasani told us in a March
1 meeting the SARG, believing him to be a principle local
source for the stories, had begun harassing and threatening
him with repeated interrogations and on occasion visibly
posting Muhabarat agents outside his office. Security
services also blocked the SWASIAH website and demanded the
organization turn over all the website's archived data.

--------------
SARG THREATS CULMINATE IN DETENTION
--------------


4. (C) The day before his arrest, al-Hasani confided to us
his concern that security services were preparing to detain
him; their harassment had taken a more menacing turn, he
said. As he was leaving the SSSC on July 19, he recounted,
a hulking, brutish man who identified himself as an "officer
of the court," but whom al-Hasani pegged for Muhabarat,
approached, grabbed him by the arm, and stripped away all the
papers al-Hasani was carrying. The papers, he told us,
contained his notes on SSSC trials. Days later, on July 23,
en route to Latakia, al-Hasani received a phone call
instructing him to report to the head of the General
Intelligence Directorate's (GID) "Internal Branch" for
questioning. Nearly to Latakia and unable to return in a
timely fashion, al-Hasani explained he could not come, but
would report on Sunday, July 26. He duly presented himself
for questioning on July 26, whereupon he was placed alone in
a room for over four hours before being questioned. His
interrogators accused him of writing denunciatory reports for
foreign consumption and instructed him to return for further
questioning on July 28.


5. (C) One of the contributing factors to his increased
anxiety about arrest, al-Hasani said, was his having learned
three individuals had submitted reports on his SSSC
activities to the National Security Organization (NSO),
headed by Isham Muqtiar. He did not tell us what the reports
contained (though he speculated they were derogatory),when
they were submitted, nor how he had learned of the reports'
existence. He did say, however, that the authors of the
reports were National Organization for Human Rights leader
Ammar Qarabi, former SWASIAH member Abdul Hakim Rihawi, and
human rights lawyer Khalil Matuk, who himself has been under
intense pressure from the security services and has had
charges brought against him by the government (his case is
pending) in connection with a complaint Matuk filed against
customs agents after his nephew was shot and killed in
September 2008.


6. (C) According to a local contact, when al-Hasani appeared
at the GID's offices on July 28, he was asked if he had
brought his identification. Al-Hasani demurred and the
security officer instructed him to return home and retrieve
it, which he did. Suspecting the worst, he reportedly
stopped by the courthouse to authorize several lawyers to act
on his behalf in the event of his absence, and then returned
to GID offices.


7. (C) Al-Hasani also notified civil society activist Daad
Mousa (strictly protect) of his July 28 interrogation and
promised to call her after it was over. When al-Hasani
failed to call, Mousa reportedly called him multiple times.
At first his line was busy, then, on her final attempt, the
phone rang but nobody answered. A short while later, Mousa
received a call from security agents using al-Hasani's
cellphone. They were, she said, checking to see who had been
calling al-Hasani. On July 31, Mousa spoke with Damascus
Declaration National Council (DDNC) member Anwar al-Bunni,
currently in Adra prison, who told her he had seen al-Hasani.
According to al-Bunni, Mousa explained, al-Hasani was facing
charges of (1) operating an NGO without a license; (2)
weakening national morale in a time of war; and (3) spreading
false information to undermine the state in a time of war.


8. (C) Comment: Muhanad al-Hasani is a close and long-time
Embassy contact who has provided the principal legal
representation for Syrian human rights, civil society, and
democracy advocates facing SARG prosecution. His transfer
from GID custody to Adra prison, the prison where most
political prisoners are held, including members of the
Damascus Declaration National Council, may presage a lengthy
detention and eventual trial. Coming on the heels of a
recent court decision to uphold the verdicts and sentences
against the DDNC's leadership, al-Hasani's detention strikes
a mortal blow to what remains of Syria's frail democracy
movement. Al-Hasani's claims that he was denounced to the
NSO are difficult to assess, but they do reflect the degree
to which the security services have penetrated Syrian civil
society.


9. (C) Comment Continued: It is worth noting the SARG moved
against al-Hasani a mere two days after the visit of S/E
George Mitchell to Damascus. While Post does not think this
was calculated at the highest levels, such a prominent arrest
may indicate either a disconnect between security services
and the palace, or a palace-level belief that U.S.
re-engagement efforts would militate against any White House
or Department public condemnations. End Comment.


10. (C) Action Request: At a minimum Post recommends
Washington consider raising this arrest at the next
appropriate opportunity in private discussions with SARG
officials to express our concerns and stress that human
rights issues will continue to play a role in determining the
pace and depth of our re-engagement, as well as consulting
key European and other allies on this arrest and the general
deterioration of human rights in Syria. Washington may also
want to consider whether now is the time to issue a public
statement to express solidarity with the growing number of
Syrian human rights and democracy advocates who are now in
jail. Should Washington choose the latter course, Post
suggests that the statement and press guidance draw on the
central themes of President Obama's June 4 speech in Cairo:

--The United States is profoundly disappointed to learn of
the arrest of human rights lawyer Muhanad al-Hasani in
Damascus on July 28. The United States condemns the
arbitrary arrest and detention of all people on political
grounds and calls for the immediate release of all prisoners
of conscience.

--America believes that all people yearn for the ability to
speak their minds freely without fear of prosecution, that
they should have a say in how they are governed, and enjoy
the freedom to live as they choose. As President Obama
observed in his June 4 Cairo speech, "These are not just
American ideas; they are human rights. And that is why we
will support them everywhere."
MAXWELL