Life in prison for a phone call?

Taylor Long, NOW Staff

Human rights activist Faeq al-Mir, a longtime opponent of Syrian Presidents Hafez al-Assad and Bashar al-Assad, is not eager to join these men in Adra Prison, who in 2005 staged a hunger strike in support of Assad. It was unfair, they said, that their president was taking heat for a recent spate of assassinations in Lebanon. (AFP/LOUAI BESHARA)

Anwar al-Bunni, Michel Kilo and Mahmoud Issa are just three of the many Syrian activists who have been jailed since early 2005 for their verbal or written support of Lebanon's push for independence and national sovereignty.  In May 2006, they signed a document called the Beirut-Damascus Declaration, calling for the normalization of relations between Syria and Lebanon in the aftermath of the Cedar Revolution and the removal of Syrian troops from Lebanese territory.  For their goodwill, they were sentenced to a harsh five to 10 years in Adra Prison where, according groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, they and other prisoners of conscious have been regularly subjected to beatings. 

Syrian intelligence operatives – the Mukhabarat – recorded a December phone call between Syrian human rights activist Faeq al-Mir, another signatory of the Beirut-Damascus Declaration, and Lebanese parliamentarian Elias Atallah.  In this telephone conversation and in several others made prior to it, Mir offered his condolences to Atallah over the assassination in Lebanon of leading Arab intellectuals Samir Kassir and Georges Hawi, and March 14-aligned Minister of Industry Pierre Gemayel.

Many in Lebanon believe that the Syrian intelligence apparatus and its operatives inside Lebanon are responsible for these assassinations.  All of those targeted were well known for their staunchly pro-independence and anti-Syrian writings and politics.  Kassir, in particular, gave space in his regular An-Nahar column to writers from within the Syrian Opposition.

Syrian officials, in this context, maintained that the phone calls made by Mir were "acts that weaken national sentiment" and entailed "communicating with a foreign country to incite it to initiate aggression against Syria or to provide it with the means to do so."   

On Thursday afternoon, the Syrian prosecutor general postponed the announcement of Faeq al-Mir's verdict until November 28 in response to a petition filed by the defense to dismiss the judge in session.  Mir has been in detention since his December 13, 2006 arrest.  Having already served a 10-year (1989-1999) sentence for his opposition to the policies of then-President Hafez al-Assad, Mir is now facing the prospect of life in prison under Bashar al-Assad.   

Nadim Houry, a researcher for Human Rights Watch in contact with the Mir family, explained that Atallah and Mir have a close relationship that goes back to the mid-1980s when the two worked with one another through various communist organizations in both countries.  Staying true to their leftist roots, Atallah is the only Lebanese MP from the Democratic Left, and Mir is an active member of the banned Syrian Democratic People's Party, known until 2005 as the Syrian Communist Party Political Bureau.

Houry said that Mir's arrest and sentencing is an example of how "the margin of maneuvering in Syria is shrinking" for dissidents.  Though the Syrian constitution is generous regarding the freedoms of speech and assembly, these rights have been suspended in a so-called "state of emergency" since the Baath Party seized power in March 1963.  That the regime will crack down on those resisting it is nothing new, but the fact that it is now jailing men like Mir for their phone calls demonstrates just how little room there is for a legitimate and peaceful political opposition to flourish.

In Atallah's words, up to this point, "arresting someone for a phone call is unheard of."  Talking to NOW Lebanon just hours before the court was scheduled to declare its verdict, Atallah was wary of speaking on the record, but as it became increasingly apparent that the verdict would be harsh no matter what, he believed that the best thing he could do for his comrade Mir would be to speak out against his arrest.

"Mir is an activist defending liberties and the [principles] of democracy in Syria," Atallah began.  Mir had called him after each assassination to express his solidarity with the Arab intellectuals in Lebanon.  "Liberties in both Lebanon and Syria cannot be separated," he and Mir agreed.  "All the intellectuals in the Arab world who are suffering oppression should be able to express solidarity with all the human rights organizations in the world to create an international campaign to lesser the pressure on the Arab intellectuals."
    
The Mukhabarat in Syria has virtually taken the place of the law and a real judicial system, Atallah said.  "This regime is always trying to find a way to build up its dictatorship, and it always finds the time to repress both the Lebanese and Syrians," he continued, "And so every free and democratic Lebanese citizen is in solidarity with [Mir] and his comrades, and they demand that he is set free along with all the political prisoners in Syria."       

Mir's indictment suggested that expressing any support for March 14 – the ruling parliamentary majority in Lebanon – is tantamount to treason, as "the ideas and direction of this group are in accordance with the American and Zionist direction, which are against the national approach of the Syrian government."

Atallah said that he believes even a crackdown like this "will not stop these free people from expressing themselves," but there is little doubt that the precedent this trial will set is anything but portentous for the future of Lebanese-Syrian relations or for the revitalization of democracy inside of Syria. Other writers, activists and concerned citizens will, sadly, be cowed by the threat of a life sentence for supporting friendly relations and the mutual sovereignty of both Lebanon and Syria.