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2006 Page 1 of 20 Syria Syria Page 1 of 20 Syria Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2006 Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor March 6, 2007 Syria, with a population of approximately 19 million, is a republic under the authoritarian presidential regime of Bashar al-Asad. The president makes key decisions with counsel from a small circle of security advisors, his ministers, and senior members of the ruling Ba'ath Party (Arab Socialist Resurrection). In 2000 an unopposed referendum confirmed President al-Asad for a seven-year term. The constitution mandates the primacy of Ba'ath party leaders in state institutions and the parliament; party leaders influenced all three branches of the government. The civilian authorities maintained effective control of the security forces, and members of the security forces committed numerous, serious human rights abuses. The government's human rights record remained poor, and it continued to commit serious abuses. There were significant limitations on citizens' rights to change their government. In a climate of impunity,there were instances of arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life, and members of the security forces tortured and physically abused prisoners and detainees. Security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained individuals, while lengthy pretrial and incommunicado detention remained serious problems. Beginning in April 2005 and continuing throughout the following year, the government increasingly violated citizens' privacy rights and stepped up already significant restrictions on freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and association amidst an atmosphere of government corruption and lack of transparency. Violence and societal discrimination continued against women. The government discriminated against minorities, particularly the Kurds, and severely restricted workers' rights. RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From: a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life During the year there were reports of arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life. According to local human rights groups, one person died in detention following torture or mistreatment by security services during the year. On April 24, a local human rights organization reported on the death of Muhammed Shaher Haysa as a result of a heart attack while detained. His body, which was handed over to his family in April, bore evidence of earlier torture during the months of his imprisonment for allegedly belonging to the banned "Jund al-Sham" Islamist organization (see section 1.c.). Press reports indicated that a Syrian Kurd, Muhammed Oso Ali, reportedly died in March as a result of an untreated case of asthma. Ali was completing his mandatory service in the armed forces in the village of Khirbit Shahab at his time of death. On March 30, his family received his body, which displayed evidence of torture prior to his death (see section 1.c.). Authorities failed to conduct independent investigations into these deaths by year's end. In March, June, September, and December, Chief Investigator for the UN International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC) Serge Brammertz issued interim reports to the UN secretary-general of the still ongoing investigation into the February 2005 Beirut assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri and 22 other individuals. In October 2005, the first interim report concluded that evidence pointed toward the involvement of Syrian authorities in the assassination of al-Hariri. The December 2005 report stated that the ongoing investigation reinforced the conclusions of the October report and requested a six-month extension, noting Syrian authorities' "reluctance and procrastination" and citing its attempt to "hinder the investigation internally and procedurally." The March, June, September, and December reports described general satisfactory cooperation from Syrian authorities into the investigation, neither concluding nor ruling out their possible involvement. In 2005 according to human rights organizations, four persons died in detention due to security service torture or mistreatment. Authorities failed to conduct independent investigations into these cases by year's end. Authorities also failed to investigate and publish findings in the following cases from 2004. International and domestic human rights organizations reported that 13 citizens died in detention due to torture or mistreatment by the security services. Six of the 13 were reportedly Kurdish men in the military who died under suspicious circumstances. Additionally, in March 2004 five died in detention after Kurdish riots. During the year the government did not bring charges against an off-duty Sunni military officer and his brother for the 2004 killing of two Assyrian Christians in Hassakeh Province. There were also no hearings in the civil case against the police and the Ministry of Interior (MOI) Syria Page 2 of 20 on behalf of Firas Abdallah, who died in police custody in 2004 in Damascus as a result of beatings. b. Disappearance There were reports of politically motivated disappearances during the year. Since his 2004 arrest, Kamal al-Bittar, a Palestinian, has vanished, according to a February report of a local human rights organization. On April 19, security forces in Aleppo arrested the following citizens: Jihan Muhammed Ali, Adnan Khalil Racheed, Waheed Jihad Moustafa, and Fawzi Ali Kahwa. Their whereabouts and reasons for arrest were unknown at year's end, according to human rights organizations. On May 11, security officials arrested eight Ahwazi Iranians (see section 1.d.), five of whom were deported and believed to be held in Iran at year's end, according to international human rights organizations. On August 10, writer and English teacher Ali Sayed al-Shihabi initially disappeared after responding to a summons for a meeting in Damascus with state security agents. According to international human rights groups, although he has not been charged with any offence, al-Shihabi's disappearance may be linked to his publication on political and social issues. Al-Shihabi was reportedly also detained between 1982 and 1991 for his membership in the banned Party for Communist Action, which he has since left. On December 30, despite his disappearance, Al-Shihabi was pardoned as part of the year-end amnesty; however, he remained detained at an unknown location at year's end. On November 6, a local human rights organization reported the September 4 disappearance on his return to the country of Osama Muhammed Ali al-Ello, a citizen who resided with his family in the United Arab Emirates. At year's end his whereabouts remained unknown. The government did not punish any members of the security forces for their roles in abductions and disappearances. The government continued to withhold new information on the welfare and whereabouts of persons who have disappeared; little is known other than the approximate date of their disappearance. A local human rights organization recorded at least 3,000 disappearance cases in the country of Syrians and Palestinians since the late 1970s, and estimated that the actual number may be several thousands more. The government has a long history of persons who disappeared and were believed to have died or to be in long-term detention (see section 1.e.). In 1999 the government claimed it had released all Palestinian, Jordanian, and Lebanese citizens reportedly abducted from Lebanon during and after its civil war (1975-91). According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), an estimated 17,000 Lebanese citizens and stateless Palestinians were "disappeared" by security forces in the early 1990s alone. Various nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and family members of those who allegedly remained in prison continued to dispute the government's claim that all abductees had been released (see section 1.d.). c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment The law prohibits such practices, and the penal code provides punishment for abusers. Under article 28 of the constitution, "no one may be tortured physically or mentally or treated in a humiliating manner." However, security forces continued to use torture frequently. In recent years local human rights organizations have cited numerous cases of security forces allegedly abusing and torturing prisoners, including 49 Kurds who went on trial during the year in a Damascus military court for their involvement in a June 2005 demonstration in the Hassakeh Province (see section 5). Torture and abuse of detainees was also reportedly common. Former prisoners, detainees, and reputable local human rights groups reported that methods of torture and abuse included electrical shocks; pulling out fingernails; burning genitalia; forcing objects into the rectum; beating, sometimes while the victim was suspended from the ceiling; alternately dousing victims with freezing water and beating them in extremely cold rooms; hyperextending the spine; bending the detainees into the frame of a wheel and whipping exposed body parts; and using a backward-bending chair to asphyxiate the victim or fracture the victim's spine. Amnesty International (AI) asserts that it has documented 38 types of torture and ill-treatment used against detainees in the country. Torture was most likely to occur while detainees were held at one of the many detention centers operated by the various security services throughout the country, particularly while authorities attempted to extract a confession or information.
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