Political Prisoners in Syria: The Perpetual Revolving Door
The current state of affairs in Syria reminds me of this line from an Egyptian movie from long ago : "every time we take a step forward, we take two steps back"(its sounds better sung repeatedly in Egyptian-accented Arabic). Just as Bashar allows the release of some of the signatories of the Beirut-Damascus declaration, Josh Landis reports on Syria Comment that eight young pro-democracy activists arrested earlier this year have had their trial postponed. They have been held without access to legal counsel or visitation rights. In the meantime Mohammed al- Abdallah, son of journalist Ali al-Abdallah continues his hunger strike and is joined in solidarity by five other jailed political prisoners. Additionally, two Palestinian human rights activists from the Yarmouk camp are arrested for belonging to a banned organization. They are: Sahar Ali al-Saleh and Samer Yousef Bakour.
So here you have it, Bashar's Syria 2006 looking very much like Hafez's Syria circa 1976 or 1986. Some may dispute that and say that the scale and severity of the crackdown on dissent has lessened. Perhaps, but a small improvement from a horrible state of affairs is still horrible. The problem is that things are getting worse not better. When it comes to the state of human rights in Syria, following the timid step forward in early 2001, we have taken ten steps back.
Names of imprisoned activists (link to petition for their release):
- Ali Nizar Ali
- Husam Ali Mulhim
- Tarek Ghorani
- Maher Ibrahim
- Ayham Saqr
- Alam Fakhour
- Omar Ali al-Abdullah
- Diab Sirieyeh.
4 comments:
Fares,
Thank you for your comments and efforts. I am assuming that the last paragraph got into your comment by mistake?
It is indeed a revolving door. Sometimes I wonder what the men who make these decisions look like. Do they have mothers, sisters and children? How were they brought up? Do they sleep peacefully at night once they have locked up some teenagers?
It is at this point that I remind myself that there is no justice in Syria and far from protecting its citizens, the state is the citizens' worst enemy.
A friend of mine writes in the Arab media, I keep suggesting to him to write a piece on the political prisonners but it is obviously not a popular subject.
We are much more interested in obscure but grandiose conspiracy theories. We are way too intelligent to waste our time on basic human rights.
BTW, with a revolving door you can get in and out pretty quickly. The situation is closer to the "roach motel" where once you get in you cannot get out.
Ms Levantine,
Your are right you get in and out fast through a revolving door...but then get right back in just as fast.
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