Random Arrests
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SHRC Eighth Annual Report on Human Rights in Syria 2009 Contents 1. Introduction ....................................................................4 2. Sednaya Prison Massacre.............................................6 3. The Damascus Declaration for National Democratic Change (DDNDC) detainees.....................................8 4. Civil Society and Human Rights Activists .................11 5. Law 49/198....................................................................14 A: List of the names of Syrians detained or arrested in accordance to the law in 2008............14 B: Syrians in Forced Exile .....................................16 C: Missing Detainees..............................................17 6. Islamist Detainees........................................................18 7. Random Arrests...........................................................27 8. Kurdish Detainees .......................................................29 9. Arab Detainees.............................................................35 10. Death during Detention ...............................................38 11. Death by Shooting .......................................................39 12. Hostage Taking ............................................................40 13. Ban on Travelling.........................................................41 14. Targeting Civil Society Institutions and Charity Organisations .........................................................44 15. Torture in Syrian Prisons in 2008 ...............................46 16. Press, Media, and the Internet ....................................48 - 3 - SHRC Eighth Annual Report on Human Rights in Syria 2009 Introduction The eighth annual human rights report in Syria covers the period from January to December 2008. It is the eighth report to document human rights abuses during the tenure of president Bashar Al - Assad. The year 2008 witnessed unprecedented abuses of human rights in Syria, regressing to the levels that were the norm in the mid - 1980s of the last century. Authorities committed a massacre in the biggest prison in the country under suspicious circumstances. An unknown number of detainees were killed, reminiscent of the massacres that were perpetrated during the period of terrible oppression. From July onwards, Supreme State Security Court sessions were held in camera. The world was on longer able to keep track of the great injustices committed by this illegal and unconstitutional court. Syrian Authorities arrested the leaders of the opposition movement The Damascus Declaration for National Democratic Change. They were tried and sentenced by a court that lacked credibility, fairness or objectivity. Authorities persisted in targeting members of the Muslim Brotherhood Movement, their children and those close to them, invoking Law 49/1980 which carries the death sentence. Efforts to crack down on Islamists under various guises were occurring at the same time as the government adopted an open door policy to cross - border Shiite ideologies. Kurdish activists were equally targeted and tried before unjust courts. In the last quarter of the year, authorities issued decree 49/2008 which sets forth the uses and rights of ownership of lands near the Syrian borders. Kurds were the group most affected by the new decree. Torture in prisons, detaining centres and interrogation rooms has become a rampant and routine practice especially during the first few weeks of arrest. Various forms of abuse continue unchecked throughout the period of incarceration. Syrian Authorities have ignored requests to disclose details about the fate of the thousands who have gone missing in Syrian prisons - 4 - SHRC Eighth Annual Report on Human Rights in Syria 2009 since the 1980s. They still deny thousands of those living in exile the right of safe return to their homeland. Having frozen those Syrians’ assets, authorities have refused to recognise them as legal persons with civil rights. Several civil society institutions such as sports clubs, social and charity societies have come under heavy fire. Authorities appoint members on boards of directors, in effect paralysing these civil society institutions, thus preventing them from pursuing their goals of extending their services to many sectors of the Syrian society. The issue of Arabs detained in Syrian prisons remains unresolved under a security regime that has made it a routine practice to hold hostages for very long periods of time. The list of banned websites has grown exponentially. Many news, religious and social websites have been censored to the extent that banning has become the rule rather than the exception. Censorship has even extended to websites published by members close to the Syrian regime. The state still exercises full control over written, visual and audio media. - 5 - SHRC Eighth Annual Report on Human Rights in Syria 2009 Sednaya Prison Massacre The Syrian Human Rights Committee has learned from a source inside Sednaya Prison that members of the military police changed the locks on all the prison cells on the night of the 4th of July 2008. The following morning, an additional back - up force arrived at the prison. A search of the prison quarters ensued during which copies of the holy Quran were trampled on by guards. Several Islamist detainees, angered by the act, rushed to retrieve the copies of the Quran. Members of the military police opened fire killing nine detainees instantly; Zakaria Affash, Mohammed Mahareesh, Abdulbaqi Khattab, Ahmed Shalaq, Khalid Bilal, Mo’aid Al - Ali, Mohannad Al - Omar and Khader Alloush. During the commotion that followed, several detainees confronted the military police who opened fire again. It has been reported that 25 detainees were killed but we have not been able to ascertain their identities. There were a number of conflicting reports about the incident. One account mentioned that the detainees took members of the military police and prison employees hostage. Yet another account revealed that detainees fled to the roof of the prison after military and security police fired tear gas and smoke bombs. It has since been confirmed that a number of tanks and armoured vehicles lay siege to the prison, erecting check points to prevent the families of the detainees from entering the prison to inquire about the fate of their relatives. A special wing at Tishreen Military Hospital was dedicated to dealing with the dead and the injured. The wing was completely closed off making it impossible to gain access through any other wing of the hospital. News continued to trickle out from inside the prison for three days. On the third day, news completely tapered off. Nothing was heard of the massacre until rumours of the killings and shootings began to circulate widely. Authorities released a terse statement two days later alleging that detainees convicted in terror crimes disrupted the peace which necessitated the direct interference of the Anti - Riot Police Unit to restore law and order, investigate the incident and prepare a list of charges in order to bring those indicted to trial. Several families sought, to no avail, to visit or inquire about relatives. - 6 - SHRC Eighth Annual Report on Human Rights in Syria 2009 No visitors have been allowed into Sednaya Prison since the outbreak of violence. We have no knowledge of anyone being released from prison since that date. It is believed that the Sednaya massacre, in which an unknown number of Islamist activities were killed, is reminiscent of the Tadmur Prison and al - Mezze Prison massacres. The Syrian Authorities are keeping the whole matter under wraps on the hope that the passage of time will sweep the whole affair under the rug. The bodies of a few detainees were handed over to their families. On the 17th of July 2008, the body of an Islamist from al - Senno family from Arbeen, arrested two years prior to the massacre, was delivered to his family. Authorities claimed he had died as a result of a hunger strike but he was most likely one of the victims of the massacre. Negotiations with the family of the Jordanian detainee Jameel Abdullah Abu - Shihada resulted in his body being handed over to his family on the 16th of August 2008. It has not been confirmed whether he died in the massacre or as a result of torture. The prison came under heavy scrutiny again towards the end of the year when highly confidential information from a special source estimated the number of detainees liquidated since the events in July to be around 127. The same source revealed that detainee cells were re - allocated and several detainees were transferred to other prisons. The events at Sednaya remain shrouded in mystery awaiting more information and clarification. - 7 - SHRC Eighth Annual Report on Human Rights in Syria 2009 The Damascus Declaration for National Democratic Change (DDNDC) detainees In 2008, Syrian Authorities resumed a campaign of arrests it had started in 2007 by detaining senior members of the Damascus Declaration for National Democratic Change (DDNDC) who held their conference on the 10th December 2007. The conference demanded peaceful political reforms geared towards introducing the principles of democracy into the Syrian system. On the 2nd of January 2008, the former political detainee and member of the Labour Communist Party, Rashid Al - Satoof, was arrested at his home in Araqqah, northeast of Damascus, although he did not attend the DDNDC meetings. He was released three days later. The writer and journalist, Fayez Sara, a fifty - year