13 - 19 September 2001
Issue No.551
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 13 - 19 September 2001 Issue No.551 |
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Weathering criticism
A flurry of political arrests raises doubts about Syria's appetite for reform. Michael Jansen reports
In Syria, it's no longer safe to have your say. On 6 September, the authorities detained outspoken opposition deputy Riad Seif, after waiving his parliamentary immunity. This was followed by the arrest of five leading opposition figures on the 8th and 9th. The "Damascus Spring," that period of political tolerance that characterised President Bashar Al-Assad's early months, is beginning to look decidedly autumnal.
Seif was taken a day after holding an unauthorised meeting of his National Dialogue Forum. More than 400 people attended the meeting, during which sociologist Burhan Ghalyoun of the Sorbonne University in Paris lectured on the need for radical political change, the creation of a multi-party system and an end to martial law. Although banned, the authorities initially tolerated these forums, and they proliferated last summer after President Bashar Al-Assad took power. In February the mood chilled when senior officials began to criticise liberal activities, and many forums were suspended by their organisers. But the frosty-spell seemed not to last, and the reformists soon began to debate Syria's present and future again. Before the meeting of Seif's forum, all seemed balmy. The meeting was announced a month in advance, and the authorities made no attempt to prevent people attending. Indeed, on the eve of the meeting Seif was confident enough to say, "I feel now there is mutual recognition between the government and the opposition...this is a healthy atmosphere which will allow us to continue our activities with the aim of serving our country." He was wrong.
Although no charges against Seif were initially announced, Al-Thawra, a Syrian newspaper, accused Seif of denigrating the state. "It is normal that those who undertake or contribute to campaigns of incitement against the state and its institutions...find themselves confronted by the law", the paper said.
Seif's detention was only one of several arrests made in the past week. The five reform activists detained during the weekend were two medical practitioners, Kamal Labuani and Walid Al-Bunni; a retired teacher, Hassan Saadoun; a businessman, Habib Saleh; and economics professor Aref Dalila. Four of the detainees attended Seif's meeting. Lubuani is a member of the Syrian Human Rights Committee, which the authorities have recently attacked for criticising the state.
These arrests raise to eight the number of opposition figures detained in the last month. Seif is the second of two deputies to be arrested. The first was independent member of parliament, Maamoun Al-Homsi, who was detained on 9 August two days into a hunger strike he was holding in protest at "pressures" he claimed the authorities exerted after he called for the establishment of a parliamentary commission on human rights.
Another political luminary held is Riad Turk, a former communist leader. Turk is Syria's best-known political prisoner. Now 71 years old, he was released in 1998 after a 17 year prison term. He was re-arrested on 1 September after holding a meeting at his home, during which he praised the political opening and economic reforms of President Bashar Al-Assad. But he also cautioned that forces within the Baath Party and government were determined to preserve their own interests by obstructing change.
Another well-known dissident, Nizar Nayouf, has been summoned by a judge to answer charges of illegally trying to alter the country's constitution. Nayouf was freed from jail in May after serving nine years of a 10 year sentence imposed for accusing the authorities of irregularities in the 1991 election. He was detained briefly in June but was then permitted to go to France for medical treatment.
These eight detentions constitute the strongest measure the authorities have taken to counter the popular political liberalisation movement. Independent observers see this tightening as an attempt by "old guard" associates of the late President Hafez Al-Assad to guard their power and privileges.
Since last February, the political climate in Syria has altered. Syria's political role in neighbouring Lebanon has come under challenge from Maronites associated with exiled General Michel Aoun and the banned Lebanese Forces, both former allies of Israel. Israel has also threatened to retaliate against Syrian troops and installations in Lebanon for attacks launched by Hizbullah in disputed sectors of the UN-designated "Blue Line," which marks the Lebanon-Israel border. There is serious concern in Damascus and Beirut that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is determined to widen the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians into a local or even a regional war. In such circumstances, Syrian groups opposed to the president's plans for political and economic change seem ready to exploit present perils to remove reformists from the political scene. Halcyon days, it seems, are well and truly over.
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