In the light of the prison sentence given to Anwar al-Bunni at the end of last month and the probable sentencing of Michel Kilo tomorrow and Kamal al-Labwani on 10th May, Amnesty International are calling for a Day of Action in protest on 9th and/or 10th May. These will take place in various countries. They are also supported by Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First.

In London there will be a peaceful demonstration outside the Syrian Embassy, 8 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PH from 2pm to 4pm on Wednesday 9th May. Please put in an appearance if you possibly can during these two hours; just a few minutes of “solidarity” with the Prisoners of Conscience in Syrian jails will mean a lot. Please also encourage as many people as you can to take part.

I should be grateful if you could give me an idea of how many people you anticipate will be able to get there, as this will greatly help the organisers.

Best wishes,
Maureen Thomas

Thank you for the insight.

Having an upright and resolute stance applies to Anwar Al Bunni. The Syrian lawyer has unwaveringly been struggling for years for democracy and human rights. He has been doing so in a country which has been under the power of the Baath party and the family of the President Al-Assad for decades. Under this regime citizens are not permitted to initiate reforms, only the authorities may do so. And Al Bunni is ready to pay the price for this: the 47 year old has just been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment.
The sentence of the court is the consequence of Bunni’s criticism of the intolerable conditions in Syrian jails and his criticism of systematic torture and human rights abuses. In doing this he always sought out contact with foreign diplomats and journalists. The fact that the European Union had supported him made all this even worse in the eyes of the Baath party. Just before his imprisonment he had opened a center for human rights, sponsored by the EU – and the Syrian authorities closed it as soon as it was opened.
The reason given for the sentence was “spreading false information”, and the sentence itself was more severe than expected.
Al Bunni is married and has children and it seems that he expected only three years imprisonment for his campaign against torture. Other opposition leaders will understand this severe sentence as the regime wants it to be understood – as a warning.
President Baschar Al-Assad followed his father Hafis Al-Assad after his death and at the beginning of his term he tried to initiate minor democratic reforms. But this so called “Damascus Spring” was very quickly over. Since the Baath Regime has come under attack due to its support of Iran, its support of the Palestinian Hamas and, last but not least, because of its involvement in the murder of the Lebanese ex-Premier Rafik al Hariri, it has repressed opposition leaders even more severely.
Al Bunni and the journalist Michel Kilo, who is awaiting his trial soon, and the doctor Al Labwani, also in prison since 2005, are the most famous democratic activists among the small opposition party in Syria. The lawyer Al Bunni has continued to denounce the state of emergency which has been in force for the last 40 years in Syria and he has drafted a democratic constitution.
He has represented other political activists and has not hesitated to express his opinions openly. He has said that the reform efforts of President Assad were merely cosmetic. In his opinion a regime like the Baath party has no future.
Mr Al Bunni’s upright and resolute stance is characteristic of him and his family.
Several of his brothers have also spent time in prison for their political opinions. “Together we have been in prison for decades“, he mentioned a year ago to a journalist from the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. Now we can add another 5 more years to that.

Thanks Yazan, and SB for republishing, also the link to this story was put on facebook of arab universities groups in North America put by Syrian and arab students.

Maureen you are doing an excellent job and I hope you see the long awaited freedom of our prisoners very soon and it would be a great reward for all freedom loving people.

I have already send an email to: http://www.alternet.org/index.html
regarding their letter and their cause.

I know of those media outlet which will need to be reached:

http://www.indymedia.org/en/index.shtml , This is specially important because they always post these caused around the world.
Also:

http://www.npr.org/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/

http://www.harpers.org/

http://www.inthesetimes.com/

http://asia.reuters.com/

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/global/

I like to hear your feed back?

Republished, Amazing letter. great work.

You might not think you do a wonderful job but I for one admire what you do on behalf of all of us. These people you are helping are the finest Syrians and deserve all the help they can get. On behalf of many I thank you for all your hard work.

Fares,

I appreciate your support as always.

Best to all

Hashem.

Anon and Ab Kareem thanks for reposting, also Philip and Golanya and Damascus spring have reposted, that’s quickly my impression, we need more.

Although some people give me credit for posting this first, that is not accurate, I saw it first on Ammar’s blog then checked my email and got that version by Email from Maureen, she aslo send the arabic version but I could not format it properly and the words kept changing order.

The credit goes for the people/prisoners who wrote it and the people who relayed it to the internet, Maureen for doing a wonderful job and everyone who publishes the message and demand the freedom of our prisoners.

I will repost on my blog.

Thank you for posting this message from our prisoners of conscious. This has brought the whole thing even closer to home. While reading, I could imagine them writing it with all sincerity and faith in the people out there who uphold them, people such as Fares.

These guys amaze me. While they remain in prison they keep calling for what will benefit us. Us with our freedom who are not in prison. They say: “As prisoners of conscience and opinion we are apprehensive about the future of our homeland, our children and our very decision to shape Syria’s future.”, these words come from prison. We should be even more concerned.

As these brave men also said: “Syrians have paid a high price for their rights and freedom and we hope to be the last group forced to pay this price to help the great Syrian people”

We must keep up the pressure. I too hope that they are the last to pay the price, but what a heavy price this has been. These are some of the most prominent and peaceful Syrian intellectuals placed in prison, at the time when their voice and opinion is needed, when the country really needs them and their wisdom and outlook. Not only did the Syrian regime strip these brave men of their freedom, but they deprive the whole nation of their wisdom.

I add my voice to Fares’ and all decent Syrians who can never accept the arrest and illegal detention of these men. Shame on this regime of Syria that attacks the best of its people and continues to show how barbaric it is even against its own people.

Hashem.