AND THEN THERE WAS ONE: SARG SETS SIGHTS ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 000822

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA
LONDON FOR LORD, PARIS FOR NOBLES

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/25/2019
TAGS: PHUM KDEM SOCI SY
SUBJECT: AND THEN THERE WAS ONE: SARG SETS SIGHTS ON
MUHANAD AL-HASANI'S LAST LAWYER

REF: A. DAMASCUS 00780

B. DAMASCUS 00787

C. DAMASCUS 00788

Classified By: CDA Charles Hunter for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Syrian Human Rights Organization - SWASIAH activist
and lawyer Catherine al-Tali (strictly protect) told us on
November 24 that the Syrian Lawyers' Syndicate had opened a
case against the lawyer and political activist Hasan Abdul
Azim. The charges for which the Syndicate was investigating
him were, she said, essentially the same as those the
Damascus Lawyers' Syndicate had used to disbar Azim's client,
Muhanad al-Hasani (ref B). Another of Hasani's original
lawyers, Radeef Mustafa, has been absent from Hasani's case
since the first disbarment hearing. Tali said Mustafa had
been warned away by security services and had retreated to
Qamishli -- a small city on the Syrian-Turkish border in the
northeastern part of the country. Hasani's third lawyer,
Haitham al-Maleh, was arrested last month.


2. (C) Word quickly spread, following the Syndicate's
announcement of charges, that Azim had stepped away from his
two highest profile cases: Hasani and Haitham al-Maleh.
Tali, however, contradicted those reports, informing us that
Azim was very much engaged, but that the workload -- on top
of having to defend himself against the Syrian Lawyers'
Syndicate -- had become too much for one person and he sought
additional lawyers to handle elements of each case. Tali had
agreed, she said, to assist on Hasani's case. She stressed
Azim would continue to represent both Maleh and Hasani,
though she feared he, too, might soon be detained. "The
security does not want Muhanad to have a lawyer at all," she
lamented.


3. (C) Azim's long involvement in the political opposition
may be at the root of this latest SARG use of the Lawyers'
Syndicate for intimidation. In a recent meeting, Azim
confided to us that he was considering running for a seat in
Parliament, which would square with his intention to convoke
the Democratic National Rally, create some distance between
himself, his party, and the Damascus Declaration (ref C),and
perhaps create a protected space from which to operate.
However, Tali reported that Azim recently spoke to al-Quds
Press about his leadership role in the Arab Socialist Union
in an interview broadcast over the radio. His comments may
have, in part, led to the Syndicate's charges, she said.


4. (C) Comment: We strongly suspect the Syrian and Damascus
Lawyers' Syndicates moved against Hasan Abdul Azim and
Muhanad al-Hasani at the request of the SARG's General
Directorate of Intelligence, the security service that has
led the crackdown on opposition figures since the round-up of
the Damascus Declaration National Council in 2007. Azim's
ability to remain out of prison will be a good indicator of
how successfully he is able to distance himself from the
political and humanitarian goals of the Damascus Declaration,
and avoid close ideological identification with his two
high-profile clients (Maleh and Hasani). The SARG's
intimidation of Azim signifies how determined security forces
feel in crushing the availability of legal counsel for civil
society and democracy activists.
HUNTER