US embassy cable - 05DAMASCUS5832

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 005832 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/06/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, SY 
SUBJECT: BASHAR PARDONS 190 POLITICAL PRISONERS TO SHORE UP 
"NATIONAL UNITY" 
 
Classified By: CDA Stephen Seche for reasons 1.4(b)/(d) 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY: A November 3 presidential decree granted 
amnesty to 190 Syrian political prisoners as part of reforms 
aimed at shoring up "national unity."  The majority of freed 
prisoners were associated with Islamist groups; conspicuously 
absent from the parolees were the six remaining "Damascus 
Spring" activists, in jail since 2001.  This is the most 
recent in a series of amnesties President Bashar al-Asad has 
signed since taking office.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (C)  President Bashar al-Asad pardoned 190 political 
prisoners on November 3, coinciding with the Muslim festival 
of Eid al-Fitr, which signals the end of the holy month of 
Ramadan.  According to the official Syrian Arab News Agency, 
SANA, the pardons are part of a comprehensive reform policy 
"aimed at strengthening national unity" and one of a series 
of similar steps taken in recent years to "strengthen the 
internal front and firmly establish national dialogue."  SANA 
noted that other measures will be taken to demonstrate that 
"the homeland has room for all." (NOTE:  Such pardons at this 
time of the year are a normal part of the judicial landscape 
throughout the Arab world, although it is less common for 
governments to portray them, as SANA did, as part of a 
"reform policy" that will enhance national unity.  END NOTE.) 
 
3.    (C)  The vast majority of pardoned prisoners had been 
jailed for Islamist sympathies, according to prominent human 
rights activist and lawyer, Haitham al-Maleh. A number of 
human rights activists were also granted amnesty, including 
Atassi Forum member Ali al-Abdullah and Arab Human Rights 
Organization President Mohammed Radoun, both of whom were 
imprisoned in the past six months.  Noticeably absent from 
the list are any of the six remaining Damascus Spring 
detainees, including jailed MPs Riad Seif and Mamoun 
al-Homsi.  According to Maleh, four prisoners, including 
Radoun and Abdullah, were released from Aadra prison and 186 
prisoners were freed from the Sednaya prison, including 101 
Muslim Brotherhood associates,  six Hizb a-Tahrir party 
associates, 13 Salafists, 20 Iraqi Ba'ath Party members, and 
20 Palestinian activists. 
 
4.  (C) Prominent human rights activist Anwar al-Bunni noted 
that most of those released had been long-term detainees. He 
stated that many of the released Muslim Brothers' convictions 
were based on nominal ties to MB and that some detainees had 
been minors at the time of their arrest. 
5.  (C)  These pardons are the latest in a series of mass 
amnesty declarations made by President Bashar al-Asad since 
he took office in 2000.  Maleh noted to Poloff that 
approximately 300 political prisoners are still held at 
Sednaya prison, including 32 Hizb a-Tahrir Party associates, 
156 Taqfir-wal-Hijra fundamentalists, and another hundred 
held on charges relating to "collusion with the enemy." 
Bunni added that 100 Kurds are also held at Sednaya.  While 
contacts like Bunni and Maleh report up to 400 political 
prisoners known with some certainty to still be in government 
prisons, they worry that SARG security services may be 
holding a significant number of others in non-official 
detention centers. 
SECHE