DAMASCUS, 20 June 2005 — A 17-year-old accused of ties to a banned Islamist group in Syria was sentenced to six years in prison by a state security court yesterday, a human rights lawyer said. Massaab Hariri was initially sentenced to death for allegedly belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, “but the court commuted the death sentence to a prison term instead”, said Anwar Bunni.
Hariri was arrested on his arrival in Syria from Saudi Arabia and has been in prison for the past three years. His mother was also arrested but released some months later. Her son’s case was transferred to the security court, which operates under emergency laws in place since the ruling Baath party took power in 1963. In addition, Hariri’s father is wanted by police for belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, Bunni said.
The security court also sentenced three Kurds to prison terms on Sunday. Ismail Osso received a two-year sentence, while Khalil Yussef and Fuad Hanif each received one-and-a-half years for belonging to a banned Kurdish party, Bunni said. Kurds and Islamists form the main opposition groups in Syria, but they are prohibited from assembling because the Syrian government views them as a threat to security and unity.
Meanwhile, an EU parliamentary delegation visiting Syria met with Bunni, who often represents political detainees, and two other rights activists, lawyer Daad Mussa and Dr. Kamal Labwani. Bunni appealed to the delegation not to go ahead with a Syrian-EU association agreement, which was initialed in October 2004 as both sides committed to work toward free trade and against terrorism. Unless “the Syrian government respects human rights by freeing political detainees, and ... by freeing the press and getting rid of emergency laws and security courts,” the accord not be signed, Bunni said he told the delegation.
