Beirut |
November 7, 2007
Watchdog Pleads for Syrian Imprisoned for Offering Condolences over Gemayel's Murder
Beirut - November 7, 2007
Human Rights Watch called for the immediate release of Syrian dissident Faeq al-Mir on Wednesday who was arrested last year after he telephoned Lebanese leftist Elias Atallah to express his condolences over the murder of fellow anti-Syrian Lebanese politician Pierre Gemayel.
The plea came as a Damascus court prepared to deliver its verdict in a case that could see him jailed for life.
The New York-based human rights watchdog appealed to the court to dismiss what it called "politically motivated charges" against Miir for contacting a Lebanese politician who is part of the country's anti-Syrian governing coalition.
"Syria's arrest and prosecution of Faeq al-Mir reveals the government's intolerance for even the slightest hint of opposition," said the watchdog's Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson.
"Mir faces the possibility of life in prison or even execution for phoning a Lebanese opponent of Syria's policies there."
Mir, who is a leader of the leftist People's Democratic Party, was arrested in his hometown of Latakia in December last year after he telephoned Atallah to express his condolences over the assassination of Gemayel.
He is charged with "undertaking acts that weaken national sentiment" and "communicating with a foreign country to incite it to initiate aggression against Syria or to provide it with the means to do so." The latter charge carries a potential life sentence.
In recent years, the Syrian government, which has imposed a state of emergency ever since it first came to poser in 1963, has taken a tough line with dissidents who question its policy towards Lebanon.
In May 2006, the authorities detained 10 dissidents who had signed a petition calling for radical reform in Damascus's relations with its smaller neighbour. Several have since been sentenced to lengthy jail terms.
Mir was one of six Syrian dissidents in jail or custody who were signatory to a letter published in the Beirut daily An-Nahar on May 1 in which they complained of the "repressive climate" in their country.
"Our situation as prisoners of conscience is part ... of the crisis of public freedoms and human rights in Syria, which started with the state of emergency imposed 44 years ago," they said in the joint letter smuggled out of Adra prison near Damascus.(AFP-Naharnet)
Human Rights Watch called for the immediate release of Syrian dissident Faeq al-Mir on Wednesday who was arrested last year after he telephoned Lebanese leftist Elias Atallah to express his condolences over the murder of fellow anti-Syrian Lebanese politician Pierre Gemayel.
The plea came as a Damascus court prepared to deliver its verdict in a case that could see him jailed for life.
The New York-based human rights watchdog appealed to the court to dismiss what it called "politically motivated charges" against Miir for contacting a Lebanese politician who is part of the country's anti-Syrian governing coalition.
"Syria's arrest and prosecution of Faeq al-Mir reveals the government's intolerance for even the slightest hint of opposition," said the watchdog's Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson.
"Mir faces the possibility of life in prison or even execution for phoning a Lebanese opponent of Syria's policies there."
Mir, who is a leader of the leftist People's Democratic Party, was arrested in his hometown of Latakia in December last year after he telephoned Atallah to express his condolences over the assassination of Gemayel.
He is charged with "undertaking acts that weaken national sentiment" and "communicating with a foreign country to incite it to initiate aggression against Syria or to provide it with the means to do so." The latter charge carries a potential life sentence.
In recent years, the Syrian government, which has imposed a state of emergency ever since it first came to poser in 1963, has taken a tough line with dissidents who question its policy towards Lebanon.
In May 2006, the authorities detained 10 dissidents who had signed a petition calling for radical reform in Damascus's relations with its smaller neighbour. Several have since been sentenced to lengthy jail terms.
Mir was one of six Syrian dissidents in jail or custody who were signatory to a letter published in the Beirut daily An-Nahar on May 1 in which they complained of the "repressive climate" in their country.
"Our situation as prisoners of conscience is part ... of the crisis of public freedoms and human rights in Syria, which started with the state of emergency imposed 44 years ago," they said in the joint letter smuggled out of Adra prison near Damascus.(AFP-Naharnet)
