Friday, May 11, 2007

Al-Labwani Sentenced to 12 Years!

Below are several reports on the sentencing of Kamal al-Labwani. Apparently Dr. al-Labwani's sentence was not newsworthy enough to make it into Champress or Syria News. There was, however, room for tidbits about Asma al-Asad, the Syrian first lady, declaring that it is her mission to create a positive image of Syria. The incongruity between the party line and reality is mind-numbing. Of course, few people buy into this charade. Yet when will the Syrian people reach their limit? What is it going to take to light a fire under our collective Syrian asses? Until that happens, the Labawnis, Kilos and others, courageous individuals willing to speak truth to power will remain easy targets to a paranoid, tyranical regime.

Human Rights Watch:

Syria: Peaceful Activist Gets 12 Years With Hard Labor
Labwani’s Sentence Discredits Syrian Claims of Political Reform
(New York, May 11, 2007)

– Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should immediately exonerate prominent human rights activist Dr. Kamal al-Labwani, who was sentenced today to 12 years in prison including hard labor on politically motivated charges, Human Rights Watch said.
A Damascus criminal court convicted Labwani of “communicating with a foreign country and inciting it to initiate aggression against Syria.” Labwani had visited the United States and Europe in the fall of 2005 where he had met with government officials, journalists and human rights organizations.
Labwani’s sentence was handed down two weeks after another prominent Syrian human rights activists, Anwar al-Bunni, was sentenced to five years in prison on politically motivated charges.
“The Syrian government has accelerated its crackdown on free speech and peaceful activism,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Peaceful activists like Labwani are paying a heavy price for expressing their views.”
Syrian security forces arrested Labwani, a physician and founder of the Democratic Liberal Gathering, on November 8, 2005 upon his return from a two-month trip to Europe and the United States. During his trip, he appeared on the pan-Arab Al-Mustaqilla and Al-Hurra television networks where he called on the Syrian government to respect fundamental freedoms and human rights.
The Democratic Liberal Gathering is a group of Syrian intellectuals and activists who advocate for peaceful change in Syria based on democratic reforms, liberalism, secularism and respect for human rights.
From the onset, Labwani’s trial was marred by the interference of the state security agencies. The prosecution added the charge of “communicating with a foreign country and inciting it to initiate aggression against Syria” after the head of National Security sent a letter on November 17, 2005 to the Minister of Justice asking him to add this accusation to the lesser charges that the General Prosecutor’s office had initially filed against Labwani. In his defense pleadings, Labwani’s attorney referred to the letter and argued that the new charge would not have been included if National Security had not intervened because the investigation had not revealed any evidence that Labwani had called on any country to initiate aggression against Syria.
On April 28, following al-Bunni’s conviction, Labwani and other imprisoned political and human rights activists smuggled out a joint letter which said that detainees in Syria “should feel that they are not alone… and that there is hope for a peaceful resolution of the crisis of freedoms and human rights in Syria.”
“Syrian officials repeatedly claim that their country wants to play a constructive role in the region,” Whitson said. “But this is hard to believe as they continue to imprison peaceful dissidents at home.”
Background
Syria has a long record of prosecuting political activists who peacefully express their opinions. In 2002, the State Security Court sentenced Labwani to three years in prison on charges of “inciting rebellion, spreading false information and weakening national unity” after he had participated in political reform discussions. Labwani was released after serving his sentence in full.
Article 38 of Syria’s Constitution guarantees the right of every citizen to “freely and openly express his views in words, in writing, and through all other means of expression” and to “participate in supervision and constructive criticism in a manner that safeguards the soundness of the domestic and nationalist structure and strengthens the socialist system.” As a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Syria has an international obligation to uphold the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.
For more information on Dr. Kamal al-Labwani’s case, please see the following Human Rights Watch documents:

Other links discussing Dr. al-Labwani's sentencing:

3 comments:

The Syrian Brit said...

My friend Abu Kareem,
Your perceptive comments about the disparity between the coverage of the two events (like Asma's pathetic venture is, actually, an EVENT!..) are a sobering reminder of how our rulers and opressors (and, sadly, our Society) view matters of human rights and freedom of speech!..
Our 'collective Syrian asses', it seems, are lined with asbestos, and are now fully heat-resistent.. even fire-proof!..

Anonymous said...

http://freesyria.wordpress.com/2007/05/13/michel-kilo-gets-only-3-years/

Abu Kareem, one correction Syria-news did cover Kamal's sentencing and Kilo's today but it only allows regime comments to appear such as this one
عبد اللطيف الريحاوي
القرار غير عادل
ياسيادة القاضي : إن الحكم ثلاث سنوات على ميشيل كيلو هو حكم غير عادل لأن ميشيل كيلو يحتاج لحكم مدته 40 عاماً ومافوق وثلاث سنوات لاتكفيه هذا العميل
so you are right it is probably better not to report these oppressive news over Assad news networks.

I sadly don't see any light at the end of the tunnel

Rabi Tawil (AKA Abu Kareem) said...

SB,

Thank you for your comment. I like the asbestos analogy.

Fares,

I stand corrected. I could not find it on the site the day I wrote the post. As for Mr. Rihaoui, he is a brown-nosing SOB. I wonder if he is paid to leave such comments.