Michael Kilo Up Front
Intoduction
by Housewife4palestine
The following comment was sent to me, after reading the article "Syria accuses EU of rights hypocrisy: "
The Syrian government is really a joke...and they have the right to lecture Europe on Human rights!!! Lahon Wassallet...Enough Hypocrycies!!!!and pretending to defend the palestenians while all they do is back up extremesim and encourage/enflame tensions
For a better Syria
Need to free Michel Kilo and the other victims of freedom.
FreeSyria.WordPress.com
So I decided to investigate and this is what I found.
Syria arrests critic of its Lebanon involvement
May 16, 2006
Daily Times
DAMASCUS: Syrian security forces have detained a prominent writer who was a leading signatory of a declaration calling on Damascus to open a new chapter in its relations with Lebanon, human rights activists said on Monday. Michael Kilo, a critic of Syria’s involvement in Lebanon, is expected to face trial by a secret court, they said. “Kilo is a moderate, but the regime could not stand that he was an architect of the Damascus-Beirut Declaration,” Ammar al-Qurabi, a leading human rights activist, told Reuters. The declaration, which was published in newspapers outside Syria and on the Internet last week, was signed by 500 writers, journalists, professors, lawyers and political activists from Syria and Lebanon. It called on Syria to recognise Lebanese independence “without hesitation or deviousness” while condemning US efforts to pressure Syria economically. The declaration said a UN investigation into last year’s assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri must proceed without hindrance. The investigation, now led by Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz, has implicated senior Lebanese and Syrian officials in the Hariri killing. Syria has denied involvement. Kilo had been critical of Syria’s dealing with the UN inquiry, saying the country’s Baath Party rulers cannot expect to ignore the ramifications of the Hariri assassination without risking instability in Syria. The Hariri assassination led to the pullout of Syrian forces from Lebanon in April 2005 after a 29-year presence. Reuters
Anwar al-Bunni: Interview with Syria's leading Human Right Lawyer, By Joe Pace
August 07, 2005
Interview with Anwar al-Bunni
By Joe Pace, Harvard University.
For Syria Comment
(Joe is spending the summer in Syria and, once again, does a terrific job in this interview. Bunni is very smart and has much to teach us about how Syria works.)
August 6, 2005
Anwar al-Bunni is the head of the "Free Political Prisoners Committee," and Syria's leading human rights lawyer. He estimates that the various members of his family have spent over 60 years in Syrian prisons. He defended Damascus Spring leaders in 2001 and continues to represent many prisoners of conscience in Syria.
Pace: Could you provide some background on the relationship between the Kurdish and Arab opposition? Why is the relationship so tenuous and is it improving or deteriorating?
Bunni: The Syrian authorities have always created barriers between the Kurdish and Arab oppositions. It planted the fear within the Arab opposition that the Kurds wanted to slice off a piece of Syria and forge a separate state. And it scared the Kurds into believing that the Arab opposition was incapable of delivering what the authorities could deliver, and it convinced them that direct negotiation with the regime would be more fruitful than coordination with the Arab opposition.
They also used the Kurds during Saddam’s rule to influence the internal situation in Iraq.
Some of the barriers between the two oppositions have come down and this is a frightening prospect for the regime. They began meeting and engaging in dialogue, so obviously they began to understand each other better. The Arab opposition began to realize that not all Kurds want a Kurdish state and the Kurdish opposition began to realize that the call for democracy could solve their problems—culturally, economically, and nationally.
They have begun to engage in serious dialogue, despite the fact that differences remain between them. They have participated in several demonstrations and sit-ins together. Still, there lingers some mutual fear that the parties’ official stances are not their true stances. Read more...
Six detained in Syria crackdown
18 May 2006
AlJazeera
Syrian lawyer Anwar al-Bunni talks on his mobile phone in Damascus, February 21, 2006. Syrian authorities arrested the prominent lawyer on Wednesday as they launched a wave of detentions of dissidents who have called for mending ties with Lebanon, political activists said. REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri
The Syrian authorities have arrested six political and human rights activists as part of what campaigners say is the biggest crackdown on dissidents in years.
Anwar al-Bunni, a campaigner for political freedoms, was dragged from his Barzeh home on Wednesday by the security forces, his family said.
"Anwar asked them to show him an arrest warrant so he would go with them, but they forced him into the car, and drove away while he was shouting," his brother Akram al-Bunni said.
Nine people have been detained by the authorities since Sunday, human rights groups said.
Al-Bunni's detention came after he publicly condemned Sunday's arrest of another rights activist, Michael Kilo.
Bunni, Kilo and hundreds of other activists had signed a petition last week calling on the government to mend its ties with Lebanon.
Relations between Syria and Lebanon were badly damaged after last year's assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, with many Lebanese blaming Syria for the killing.
A pro-government newspaper, Tishrin, condemned the petition, saying it was full of lies.
Pressure
Despite calls for Kilo's release, the government has charged him with undermining the state, weakening national sentiment and instigating sectarian and racial divisions, according to rights activists.
The National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria said the number of arrests was the largest since a similar move in December 2001 when dozens of campaigners were detained.
Arab Press Freedom Watch - a group that campaigns for freedom of speech - condemned the crackdown and urged the world to put pressure on the Syrian government to release detainees.
"The Baath regime seems to have lost patience for the increasing voices of the opposition and decided to step up political detention," Freedom Watch said in a statement.
Links:
Kilo's arrest
shocks Syrian opposition
On the civil socity and reform discussions in Syria
Syria arrests critic of Lebanon involvement
Old Ways Die Hard in Syria
Arrested development
by Housewife4palestine
The following comment was sent to me, after reading the article "Syria accuses EU of rights hypocrisy: "
The Syrian government is really a joke...and they have the right to lecture Europe on Human rights!!! Lahon Wassallet...Enough Hypocrycies!!!!and pretending to defend the palestenians while all they do is back up extremesim and encourage/enflame tensions
For a better Syria
Need to free Michel Kilo and the other victims of freedom.
FreeSyria.WordPress.com
So I decided to investigate and this is what I found.
Syria arrests critic of its Lebanon involvement
May 16, 2006
Daily Times
DAMASCUS: Syrian security forces have detained a prominent writer who was a leading signatory of a declaration calling on Damascus to open a new chapter in its relations with Lebanon, human rights activists said on Monday. Michael Kilo, a critic of Syria’s involvement in Lebanon, is expected to face trial by a secret court, they said. “Kilo is a moderate, but the regime could not stand that he was an architect of the Damascus-Beirut Declaration,” Ammar al-Qurabi, a leading human rights activist, told Reuters. The declaration, which was published in newspapers outside Syria and on the Internet last week, was signed by 500 writers, journalists, professors, lawyers and political activists from Syria and Lebanon. It called on Syria to recognise Lebanese independence “without hesitation or deviousness” while condemning US efforts to pressure Syria economically. The declaration said a UN investigation into last year’s assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri must proceed without hindrance. The investigation, now led by Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz, has implicated senior Lebanese and Syrian officials in the Hariri killing. Syria has denied involvement. Kilo had been critical of Syria’s dealing with the UN inquiry, saying the country’s Baath Party rulers cannot expect to ignore the ramifications of the Hariri assassination without risking instability in Syria. The Hariri assassination led to the pullout of Syrian forces from Lebanon in April 2005 after a 29-year presence. Reuters
Anwar al-Bunni: Interview with Syria's leading Human Right Lawyer, By Joe Pace
August 07, 2005
Interview with Anwar al-Bunni
By Joe Pace, Harvard University.
For Syria Comment
(Joe is spending the summer in Syria and, once again, does a terrific job in this interview. Bunni is very smart and has much to teach us about how Syria works.)
August 6, 2005
Anwar al-Bunni is the head of the "Free Political Prisoners Committee," and Syria's leading human rights lawyer. He estimates that the various members of his family have spent over 60 years in Syrian prisons. He defended Damascus Spring leaders in 2001 and continues to represent many prisoners of conscience in Syria.
Pace: Could you provide some background on the relationship between the Kurdish and Arab opposition? Why is the relationship so tenuous and is it improving or deteriorating?
Bunni: The Syrian authorities have always created barriers between the Kurdish and Arab oppositions. It planted the fear within the Arab opposition that the Kurds wanted to slice off a piece of Syria and forge a separate state. And it scared the Kurds into believing that the Arab opposition was incapable of delivering what the authorities could deliver, and it convinced them that direct negotiation with the regime would be more fruitful than coordination with the Arab opposition.
They also used the Kurds during Saddam’s rule to influence the internal situation in Iraq.
Some of the barriers between the two oppositions have come down and this is a frightening prospect for the regime. They began meeting and engaging in dialogue, so obviously they began to understand each other better. The Arab opposition began to realize that not all Kurds want a Kurdish state and the Kurdish opposition began to realize that the call for democracy could solve their problems—culturally, economically, and nationally.
They have begun to engage in serious dialogue, despite the fact that differences remain between them. They have participated in several demonstrations and sit-ins together. Still, there lingers some mutual fear that the parties’ official stances are not their true stances. Read more...
Six detained in Syria crackdown
18 May 2006
AlJazeera
Syrian lawyer Anwar al-Bunni talks on his mobile phone in Damascus, February 21, 2006. Syrian authorities arrested the prominent lawyer on Wednesday as they launched a wave of detentions of dissidents who have called for mending ties with Lebanon, political activists said. REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri
The Syrian authorities have arrested six political and human rights activists as part of what campaigners say is the biggest crackdown on dissidents in years.
Anwar al-Bunni, a campaigner for political freedoms, was dragged from his Barzeh home on Wednesday by the security forces, his family said.
"Anwar asked them to show him an arrest warrant so he would go with them, but they forced him into the car, and drove away while he was shouting," his brother Akram al-Bunni said.
Nine people have been detained by the authorities since Sunday, human rights groups said.
Al-Bunni's detention came after he publicly condemned Sunday's arrest of another rights activist, Michael Kilo.
Bunni, Kilo and hundreds of other activists had signed a petition last week calling on the government to mend its ties with Lebanon.
Relations between Syria and Lebanon were badly damaged after last year's assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, with many Lebanese blaming Syria for the killing.
A pro-government newspaper, Tishrin, condemned the petition, saying it was full of lies.
Pressure
Despite calls for Kilo's release, the government has charged him with undermining the state, weakening national sentiment and instigating sectarian and racial divisions, according to rights activists.
The National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria said the number of arrests was the largest since a similar move in December 2001 when dozens of campaigners were detained.
Arab Press Freedom Watch - a group that campaigns for freedom of speech - condemned the crackdown and urged the world to put pressure on the Syrian government to release detainees.
"The Baath regime seems to have lost patience for the increasing voices of the opposition and decided to step up political detention," Freedom Watch said in a statement.
Links:
Kilo's arrest
shocks Syrian opposition
On the civil socity and reform discussions in Syria
Syria arrests critic of Lebanon involvement
Old Ways Die Hard in Syria
Arrested development
posted by HRM Deborah of Israel and the Messenger of Peace at 1:01 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home