COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT SYRIA 10 OCTOBER 2007 Border & Immigration Agency COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION SERVICE 10 OCTOBER 2007 SYRIA Contents Preface (includes explanatory note about partial update) Latest News EVENTS IN SYRIA, 1 JANUARY 2007 TO 10 OCTOBER 2007 REPORTS ON SYRIA PUBLISHED OR ACCESSED SINCE 1 JANUARY 2007 Paragraphs Background Information 1. GEOGRAPHY........................................................................................ 1.01 Maps .............................................................................................. 1.03 2. ECONOMY............................................................................................ 2.01 3. HISTORY.............................................................................................. 3.01 Post-independence: 1946 – 1970 ................................................ 3.02 Reign of President Hafiz al-Assad: 1970 – 2000........................ 3.04 Lebanon: Intervention and occupation....................................... 3.06 Reign of President Bashar al-Assad: 2000 – the present......... 3.08 Withdrawal from Lebanon: April 2005........................................ 3.09 4. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS...................................................................... 4.01 5. CONSTITUTION..................................................................................... 5.01 6. POLITICAL SYSTEM .............................................................................. 6.01 Elections: 2003 ............................................................................. 6.04 Human Rights 7. INTRODUCTION..................................................................................... 7.01 8. SECURITY FORCES............................................................................... 8.01 Police............................................................................................. 8.03 Other government forces ............................................................ 8.04 Abuses by the security forces .................................................... 8.06 Arbitrary arrest and detention .................................................... 8.06 Torture ....................................................................................... 8.10 Extra-judicial killings .................................................................. 8.13 9. MILITARY SERVICE ............................................................................... 9.01 Exemptions and postponements................................................ 9.03 Conscientious objection.............................................................. 9.06 Desertion....................................................................................... 9.07 10. JUDICIARY........................................................................................... 10.01 Organisation ................................................................................. 10.02 Independence ............................................................................... 10.03 Fair trial ......................................................................................... 10.04 Supreme State Security Court (SSSC)...................................... 10.08 11. ARREST AND DETENTION – LEGAL RIGHTS ........................................... 11.01 12. PRISON CONDITIONS............................................................................ 12.01 13. DEATH PENALTY.................................................................................. 13.01 14. POLITICAL AFFILIATION........................................................................ 14.01 Freedom of association and assembly ...................................... 14.02 Opposition groups and political activists.................................. 14.04 ii This Country of Origin Information Report contains the most up-to-date publicly available information as at 10 October 2007. Older source material has been included where it contains relevant information not available in more recent documents. 10 OCTOBER 2007 SYRIA Islamist/Salafist political activists .............................................. 14.04 Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun (Muslim Brotherhood) ........................... 14.05 Hizb ut-Tahrir (Islamic Liberation Party) .................................... 14.09 Kurdish political activists............................................................ 14.12 Yekiti (Kurdish Democratic Party).............................................. 14.13 Left-wing/Communist Parties...................................................... 14.20 15. FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND MEDIA ........................................................ 15.01 16. HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS, ORGANISATIONS AND ACTIVISTS............ 16.01 17. FREEDOM OF RELIGION........................................................................ 17.01 Religious groups .......................................................................... 17.03 18. ETHNIC GROUPS .................................................................................. 18.01 Kurds ............................................................................................. 18.02 Map............................................................................................ 18.03 19. LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER PERSONS....................... 19.01 20. DISABILITY .......................................................................................... 20.01 21. WOMEN............................................................................................... 21.01 Legal rights ................................................................................... 21.02 Political rights............................................................................... 21.04 Social and economic rights......................................................... 21.06 Violence against women.............................................................. 21.10 Rape .......................................................................................... 21.12 ‘Honour’ crimes.......................................................................... 21.14 22. CHILDREN ........................................................................................... 22.01 Basic information ......................................................................... 22.01 Education ...................................................................................... 22.05 Health issues ................................................................................ 22.08 23. TRAFFICKING....................................................................................... 23.01 Prosecution, protection and prevention .................................... 23.03 24. MEDICAL ISSUES ................................................................................. 24.01 Overview of availability of medical treatment............................ 24.02 HIV/AIDS – anti-retroviral treatment ........................................... 24.03 Mental health ................................................................................ 24.04 25. FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT ..................................................................... 25.01 Departure and return.................................................................... 25.04 26. INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE (IDPS) .............................................. 26.01 27. FOREIGN REFUGEES ............................................................................ 27.01 Iranians.......................................................................................... 27.04 Iraqis.............................................................................................. 27.05 Palestinians .................................................................................. 27.09 Map............................................................................................ 27.10 28. CITIZENSHIP AND NATIONALITY ............................................................ 28.01 29. EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS.......................................................................... 29.01 Annexes Annex A – Chronology of major events Annex B – Political organisations Annex C – Prominent people Annex D – List of abbreviations Annex E – References to source material This Country of Origin Information Report contains the most up-to-date publicly available information as at 10 October 2007. iii Older source material has been included where it contains relevant information not available in more recent documents. 10 OCTOBER 2007 SYRIA Preface i This Country of Origin Information Report (COI Report) has been produced by Research, Development and Statistics (RDS), Home Office, for use by officials involved in the asylum/human rights determination process. The Report provides general background information about the issues most commonly raised in asylum/human rights claims made in the United Kingdom. The main body of the report includes information available up to 31 December 2006. The latest news section contains information available up to 10 October 2007. ii COI Reports are generally produced on the 20 countries which generate the most asylum applications in the UK. The selection of countries for the current range of COI Reports produced is based on the 2006 asylum statistics. The previous edition of the Syria COI Report was published in February 2007 and would not normally be updated because it was not one of the ‘top 20’ asylum intake countries for 2006. However, the report has been