Tharwa Exclusive
In a development that suggests that the authorities in Syria are actively seeking to introduce a new mechanism for repressing its opponents, the studio of famous Syrian artist and opposition member, Talal Abu Dan, in Aleppo has recently been ransacked, with intruders destroying paintings, statues and other personal belongings of Mr. Abu Dan. Mr. Abu Dan, married with three children, was born in Aleppo in 1953 and is a former political prisoner who had spent over 10 years in prison for opposing the regime of Hafiz al-Assad.
What makes this development rather suspicious is that it coincided with the vandalism of the car belonging liberal opposition member, Samir Nashar, which had taken place on the same day, as well as the cars belonging to opposition member Mohammad Haj Darwish, and Ibrahim Melki.
If this trend continued, and if it failed to receive sufficient attention and condemnation, it could indeed escalate into something far more dangerous. If the Syrian authorities are willing to resort to criminal activities in order to punish its detractors, there is nothing to prevent it from carrying this measure to an extreme. Indeed, they might have already done so in the case of Kurdish dissident Maashouq al-Khaznawi, who disappeared in early 2005, before his dead body was recovered a short while following his disappearance. The murderers are suspected to have been government agents.
Meanwhile, the current state of human rights in Syria continues to deteriorate as the international community continues to send mixed signals of courtship and censure to the ruling Assad regime, long ranked among the human rights violators in the world.
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