The Syrian authorities have released tens of political prisoners including two Lebanese from theprison of Sidnaya, east of the capital Damascus, the Syrian Human Rights Association said.
According to AN NAHAR Sunday, this was the first time the Syrian authorities acknowledged thepresence of Lebanese political prisoners in their jails. Both the Syrian and Lebanese governmentshave maintained that only Lebanese prisoners convicted of non-political crimes remain in Syrianjails. However, the rightwing Lebanese Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and the association in supportof Lebanese prisoners in Syria, SOLID, have insisted that a number of Lebanese political prisoners arestill being held in Syria. Under emergency law, in force in Syria since 1963, the authorities have theright to detain suspects indefinitely and without trial.
The paper quoted the deputy head of the Association, Salim Kheir-Beik as saying the authorities"transferred 57 prisoners from Sidnaya to the headquarters of military security in Damascus but twowere later returned to the prison for unknown reasons". Kheir-Beik said most of those released wereSyrian political prisoners from Aleppo, in addition to five Palestinians, an Iraqi, a Tunisian as well thetwo Lebanese. He said the name of one released Lebanese was Samir Mikhael while the name of theother was still unknown.
According to AN NAHAR, the latest move by the authorities was welcomed by the Association, whichcalled for the release of all the remaining prisoners of opinion and political detainees and demandedan end to arbitrary detention and arrests. The international daily AL HAYAT, which carried the samestory, said 270 political prisoners remain in Sidnaya prison. Since President Bashar al-Assad came topower in 2000, the authorities have released 1,200 political prisoners. AN NAHAR said Assad has sofar issued five presidential pardons; the most recent was in December 2004 during which some 112prisoners were released, most of them belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood group. (See MER20/12/05) However, the paper pointed out that this latest release was not prompted by a presidentialpardon.
Kurds' Hunger StrikeMeanwhile, a Syrian right activist has said some 50 Syrian Kurdish prisoners have been on hungerstrike for more than a week. According to Anwar al-Bunni, the prisoners, who are members of theDemocratic Union party, went on strike to protest their dire detention conditions. Bunni said theprisoners who are held in the prison of Adra, east of Damascus are suffering from abuse, lack ofhygiene, and are not allowed visits by relatives. "We have been calling for an end to the case ofpolitical prisoners in Syria for many years, but the authorities are dealing with the issue by the drip.
We call for the release of all political prisoners and referring those who are suspected to the regularcourts with all their legal guarantees," Bunni said.
