Free Michel Kilo Now - Enough Already

I not going to comment on Nasralla’s ridiculous speech of last Friday. But I  just read this Arabic article written by Ghassan Al Imam in the asharqalawsat.com newspaper and it is worth reading. It is one of the best article written about the subject.

The respected writer describe the problem of Leaving Lebanon in “Bouz Al Madfa3″ or in the front lines of confrotation between Iran and the US. He also criticizes the speech in a very smart and efficient way, adding sarcasm, criticices Hizballa Militia from not learning from the past and trying to keep Lebanon in an unstable state hostage to its weapons and agenda.

Enjoy Reading it and remember that Lebanon deserves to be in Peace and does not have or want the eternal calling of resistance. Its talented and free people need to prosper and flourish and become an example of how advanced the arabs can be. Lebanon is the Switzerland of the middle east and needs to be neutral to function properly. The brotherly neighbors need to understand that and learn from Lebanon instead of sabotaging and damaging the Pearl of the Mediteranean sea. 

Lebanon currenly represent the fight of the liberal and open-minded people agaisnt the forces of backwardness in the region that tries to keep everything in the dark ages. People, specially Syrians who don’t understand that, are very selfish, they don’t have a positive vision and enjoy the state of chaos that our region is embattling.

Baathist Syria Leave Lebanon alone and Learn from its experience instead of showing false and hypocryte love and concerns. 

حزب إيران يعيد لبنان إلى «بوز المدفع»

  «السيد» الآن لا يريد هذه الحكومة «العاجزة عن الدفاع والإعمار»! يطالب بحكومة «وحدة وطنية» تكرس التوازن الطائفي، وتقبل بسلطته وميليشياه وسلاحه!… «السيد» لا يعتبر بالتاريخ. ها هي ميليشياه تورط لبنان في مواجهة حربية غير متكافئة. ثم يغالط السنة والمسيحيين والدروز: خذوني بسلاحي. أتعهد بعدم استعماله ضدكم. لكن عندما داعب التلفزيون «معصوميته» نزل رجاله إلى الشارع ليضربوا السنة والمسيحيين. يستمر «السيد» في المغالطة: حزب الله ليس حزبا طائفيا ولا إيرانيا. انه حزب لبناني

Update: This is another post on another Respected Writer explaining the options that Hizballa Offers Lebanon, Quite depressing.

I just heard this good news/bad news part on Radion Monte Carlo, then found the Reuters article pasted below. I don’t have much to comment except to say that Syrian policies regarding arbitrary arrests and releases (so common these days), detention, charging and trial processes are a big joke and so confusing. They think that it is efficient and instrumental in keeping the regime tight control over everything and leaving the Syrian society always fearful of random actions.  They will fail, Syrians are itching toward political and free speech freedoms. Congratulations on the release of the 3 detainees, we had their names in our campaign. They should not have been arrested in the first place, but we look forward to the release of the other political prisoners. Please reflect and comment on the bolded section of the article.

Syria frees critics of its Lebanon strategy
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
Reuters
Monday, September 25, 2006; 12:25 PM 

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrian authorities released on Monday three signatories of a declaration that had criticized state policy toward Lebanon but left two leading dissidents behind the document in jail, human rights organizations said.

Communist politician Mahmoud Issa, Kurdish dissident Khalil Hussein and labor activist Suleiman al-Shammar were released on $20 bail (1000 Lira), they said.

“There is no intention of putting them on trial, unlike the last two signatories in prison,” Ammar al-Qurabi, president of the National Organization for Human Rights, told Reuters.

Ten dissidents were arrested in May after signing the Damascus-Beirut Declaration, which urged the government to mend ties with Lebanon that have been damaged since last year’s assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

Eight of the 10 have since been released while prominent lawyer Anwar al-Bunni and writer Michael Kilo remain in jail.

Security forces shut down an EU-funded human rights center set up by Bunni, Kilo and other activists in March. Kilo traveled to Lebanon several times before his arrest.

“Bunni and Kilo should also be freed. They were arrested on the same Damascus-Beirut Declaration background,” said Mohanad al-Hassani, head of the Syrian Human Rights Organization.

Hundreds of Lebanese and Syrian activists signed the declaration, which condemned political killings and called for the establishment of mutual diplomatic ties.

A Baath Party official said the authorities regard Kilo and Bunni, who were charged during the course of the investigation with fostering sectarian divisions and undermining the state, to have close connections with dissidents abroad.

“They can mount as much opposition inside Syria as they want, but not collaborate with the outside,” he said. [Yah Right, hello Internal Free Speech and Free Press]

Syria’s isolation from the West rose after Hariri’s assassination in Beirut with the government ignoring calls by Washington and the EU top release dissidents.

A U.N. investigation said the assassination could not have been carried out without knowledge of Syrian security officials. Syria denies involvement.

The isolation of the Baathist government, however, has eased since Israel invaded southern Lebanon in July in response to the capture of two Israeli soldiers by fighters of Hizbollah, which Syria supports.

A delegation from the European Parliament said on a visit to Syria last week Damascus was a key regional player that should not be ignored.

Update: “Political Prisoners in Syria: The Perpetual Revolving Door”, great post by Levantine Dreamhouse

Dear Fares,

This is a message I am sending out to various contacts today:

Dr Kamal al-Labwani appeared in court again last Tuesday, the 19th September.At this hearing the Prosecution confirmed that there are now two charges against Dr Labwani. He remains charged under Article 287 which relates to the “broadcasting [by any Syrian] while abroad of false or exaggerated news which damages the reputation of the state or its financial standing” and is punishable by at least six months imprisonment and a fine of between 50 and 500 Syrian Lira and the more recently introduced charge under Article 264 of the Penal Code which states, that “[a]ny Syrian who plots or schemes with a foreign country, or who communicates with one with the aim of causing it to attack Syria, is punishable by life imprisonment with hard labour.

The Prosecutor maintained that Dr Labwani is “guilty” of talking to foreign countries about Syrian affairs despite the defence’s contention that the discussions related specifically to human rights in Syria

Dr Labwani’s family attended the court and sent me this message:

We attended the court today and we came back very annoyed because the Prosecutor repeated the same charges as before, not the different charges which were written in the prime minister’s letter.   [This refers to a letter sent last week by the Syrian Prime Minister to a German group of Amnesty International in which he listed the charges against Dr Labwani without mentioning the most serious one of “communicating with a foreign country with the aim of causing it to attack Syria The Prosecutor built his charges on political examples not legal cases. He seemed not to be accusing our father but accusing the US and the UK because of their politics in the area.  He talked about Iraq and Palestine and said that what they are doing in Iraq is an example of democracy. The Prosecutor accused our father like he supported all of these things without taking any notice of his opinion and speech in the TV interviews when he said that he is against what is happening in Iraq. It seems my father now must carry all the problems with the international community when he just wants democracy and human rights for the Syrian people.The trial has been postponed to the 29|10|2006 (this date might be 29/09/06) for the defence to argue their case and maybe the last session will be in the 11th month and then our father will have completed a year in prison but it is nothing compared with a forever sentence

Through you we ask all the human right organizations, MPs, and all the people who love freedom and who can help us in any way to help our father because we will lose him forever because of a few words he spoke asking for freedom for the Syrian people. We expect from the authorities the very worst.   We believe that what the prosecutor said in court had been written for him by the security forces.

We hope you will send our request to all the people you know who can help. Our father asked for the media to cover his case. He said it is very important.

I hope, if you can do anything to help Dr Labwani by publicising his case, you will.  Dr Labwani’s conditions in detention are very poor. He is in an overcrowded cell with about 50 convicted criminals. A group of these prisoners gain privileges for themselves by harassing Dr Labwani and encouraging the other prisoners to make his life miserable. He is refused access to the prison mosque and prison library. He is not allowed to use a telephone or watch TV. Between 2001 and 2004 Dr Labwani learned how to cope with three years of solitary confinement, but he is finding his present conditions very depressing.

Sometimes he is refused permission to meet his defence lawyers and, when he does, their meetings are always supervised by an officer of the security force; he is never allowed a private consultation. When his family visit him in prison, one security guard stands beside Dr Labwani and another beside the family and they try to control the conversation.

————-

The above email was sent to me today along with the photos that I published in the previous post. It was sent by an old retired English lady, with a golden heart, who devotes herself to helping out in the case of Syrian prisoners. She sent me this email as a follow up

” I find that disappointments like Tuesday’s court hearing (when we had all hoped that they were going to drop the treason charge as the Prime Minister’s letter had not mentioned it) - depress me for a day or two.   But then I tell myself how much worse it is for Kamal’s family.”

The words and actions of this wise woman, who owes nothing to Syria or its people, are a stark reminder of how much we Syrians need to do, just to catch up to other people caring for us. Shame on the regime for making us fearful and speechless and instead of helping the country become better, they are depriving people who care for us from being happy and in Peace. They are substituting Hope with Depression!

Syrians, time to lead the fight and struggle for freedom, instead of being passive and dependent on others. Fellow Syrian Freedom blogs, you make me proud, I salute your courage and feel free to republish or translate any part of this post. We owe it to Kamal, Michel, Aref, Anwar, Fateh, Khalil, Ali, Mohammad, Mahmoud, Habib, Suleiman and all the noble prisoners to do whatever we can to change their status and set them free.

I received these very touching photos featuring Kamal Labwani, 2 of them are of him in Jail behind bars and illustrate Humiliation and being stripped of Human Dignity being a political prisoner for an oppressive Syrian regime.

The other 2 photos are of him practicing his art as a free man, what he should be doing now. Instead he is in Limbo not knowing what the sentence would be and not taking into account his innocence. The fact is that he should be released immediately if we take a firmer stand on the issue.

I have more material to scan through to create another post on the matter, but in the meanwhile please feel free to borrow the photos and publicize the matter as much as possible. That is Kamal’s wish! We owe it to him and the other prisoners.

I am sure most of the Middle Eastern people living in North American have heard of the name “Maher Arar“. His case exemplify how badly US/Canadian officers can sometime mistreat people just on suspicions, or having an Arab or Muslim name, or born in a “terrorist” country. His case is the worst scenario possible. I heard so many stories on milder responses. It happened to my brother recently crossing into the US (not a first visit), he was questioned for couple of hours and missed his flight to New York. It happened to me 2 weeks after Sept 11 coming back to Montreal from France…and after so many tricky and unnecessary questions; they realized that there is nothing to fear. But it was a paranoiac atmosphere specially crossing Canada/US border the year after Sept 11.

Anyway back to Maher, his name resurfaced in the news yesterday after his name was cleared by a Canadian court. I’ll copy some parts of this great editorial in USA today, to explain his story and to illustrate how badly the US reacted initially. Also you can get the picture of what might happen to you in Syrian jails, quite disturbing and unacceptable:

Maher Arar’s nightmare began in September 2002. The computer engineer, married and the father of two, was detained in New York’s JFK Airport during a stopover on a flight home from Tunisia, where he had been with his family. Unknown to Arar, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, acting on faulty information, had told U.S. authorities Arar was an Islamic extremist with suspected links to al-Qaeda.

Arar was held and questioned for 12 days at JFK and in a U.S. detention center. When U.S. authorities told him they were sending him to Syria, from which he had emigrated to Canada at age 17, the mild-mannered Arar broke down crying, protesting the Syrians would torture him.

Arar was shackled by U.S. authorities in the rear of a small jet and flown to Jordan. There, he was hit by Jordanian guards and questioned. Then he was blindfolded and driven to Syria, where his life descended into a hellish round of beatings and interrogation. He was punched and whipped with an electric cable. Desperate to stop the beatings, he confessed to having been trained in Afghanistan — a country there is no evidence he has ever visited.

The beatings quickly diminished, but for 10 months Arar was locked in a tomblike, rat-infested concrete cell just 3 feet wide and 6 feet long. The Syrians eventually required him to sign a confession and set him free. He returned to Canada in 2003, where he suffered from severe post-traumatic stress and was unable to work to support his family

We know all of this because of a devastating new report by a Canadian judge, who heard testimony about Arar’s case from more than 70 witnesses and had access to more than 21,000 documents. The judge concluded “categorically that there is no evidence” Arar was ever a security threat.

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday that the hand-over of Arar to the Syrians was a deportation, not a “rendition” …Several precautions might have averted the injustice: Turning Arar over to Canada instead of Syria. Giving him a court review. Adopting reasonable principles on torture, either by the United States or by its proxies.

Torture is a terrible bargain. It often produces bad information… Using it on the most vile terrorist leaders is debatable. Applying it to an innocent man is unforgivable.

I think that Maher was lucky to be released from Syrian jails because he was Canadian as well and there was a big campaign in Canada pressuring the government to act, so they might have asked for his release but it was late, very late.

Maher, congratulation on clearing your name and all Syrians and Canadians wish you good recovery and back to normal life as much as possible. I am sure there are other cases as well. The Syrian authorities should be held accountable for their practices as much as the US authorities. I say to the Syrian regime is that beating people up and torturing them on behalf of any government is not acceptable and it is not really fighting terror. It is more like playing the bad guy, but I don’t think they mind. They do it on their own anyway. Syrians authorities have a long way to go to clear their image…they can start by releasing all the political prisoners and change their outdated practices which are benefiting no one.

Jordan was a dirty player in this as well, torture and random arrests are contagious in the region. Canada need to redeem itself as well and learn how to not endanger its citizens.

US and European authorities hopefully they will learn from that and stop deporting people to places where they could be tortured. Also they need to realize that even naturalized people coming from Middle Eastern background can act nervous or scared when aggressively questioned just because they don’t know what might happen to them.

Update:

I just read an excellent arabic article written by Mahmoud Akel making fun of Syrian Human Rights in 2006.

Update2: Eric Margolis Take on the subject