DAMASCUS, 21 May 2006 — Syrian authorities summoned the EU envoy in Damascus yesterday to protest an announcement by the European Union criticizing a mounting crackdown on dissidents, the official news agency SANA said. The European Union urged the Baathist government on Friday to release all prisoners of conscience after it arrested in recent months scores of opponents, including activists who had demanded mending ties with Lebanon.
“The EU announcement constitutes unacceptable interference in Syrian internal affairs,” a statement by the Syrian Foreign Ministry said. “The (arrests) issue lies in the domain of Syrian sovereignty, which includes protecting the population and applying the country’s legal code.”
A Foreign Ministry official handed the Syrian statement to EU Ambassador Frank Hesske, SANA said. The government, led by the Baath party since 1963, has jailed increasing numbers of political opponents since Western pressure began over its alleged role in last year’s murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri, subject of a United Nations inquiry.
The UN investigation, now led by Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz, has implicated senior Lebanese and Syrian officials in the Hariri killing. Syria has denied involvement. After the Hariri killing, the European Union stopped negotiating with Syria on an agreement that included free trade and assistance to reform the economy, which was nationalized four decades ago.
Relations further worsened in recent months after a crowd attacked European embassies to protest against the blasphemous cartoons in Danish newspaper, and the government shut down an EU-funded human rights center in Damascus run by prominent lawyer Anwar Al-Bunni.
