Re: Anniversary of the detention of a Syrian prisoner of conscience Aref Dalilah
Paris, September 21, 2007
Dear Mr. President,
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), an international non-governmental organisation that gathers155 member organisations, would like to convey to you its deepest concern over the ongoing detention of Mr. Aref Dalilah, prisoner of conscience, sentenced to ten years of prison by the Supreme State Security Court in Damascus in September 2002.
Mr. Aref Dalilah, an intellectual and a researcher, specialized in Arabic economy and politics, was also the Dean of the Faculty of Economics, both in Aleppo and Damascus Universities. On 9th September 2001 he was arrested in Damascus following his participation to a political seminar entitled « The Syrian economy, problems and solutions ». He was then accused of inciting armed struggle.
On 31th of September 2002, he was sentenced by the Supreme State Security Court to 10 years in prison and hard labour, following proceedings that fell short of international standards for fair trial. The charges against him were « incitement to armed struggle » and « attempt to change illegally the Constitution ». Mr .Aref Dalilah has begun his seventh year of imprisonment and, since 2002, his health has been deteriorating each day.
Mr. Dalilah has been suffering serious health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure and irregular heartbeat, for a long time. Due to the harsh conditions of detention, Mr. Aref Dalilah’s health has gone from bad to worse and today his health is deteriorating even more rapidly.
The authorities have reportedly always denied the possibility for Mr. Dalilah to receive medical treatment and heart surgery outside of prison. After several years spent in solitary confinement, his mental health has also been affected. On 12th July 2005 he started a hunger strike in order to protest against his prolonged detention in solitary confinement as well as his conditions of detention that could amount to inhumane and degrading treatment.
FIDH urges the Syrian authorities to:
* guarantee Dalilah’s physical and psychological integrity;
* end Aref Dalilah’s solitary confinement, as the conditions in which he is held amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and are likely to worsen his health;
* ensure that his right to a fair and impartial trial is guaranteed should he decide to bring his case before the court of appeal;
* release immediately and unconditionally Mr. Dalilah and all the prisoners of conscience sentenced and detained in Syria after an unfair trial and among them: Anouar Al-Bunni, Riyad Dirar, Michel Kilo, Mahmoud Eissa, Kamal Labwani, Fa’eq Al-Mir, Nizar Rastanawi and Habib Salah and drop all the charges pending against them;
In the hope that you will take these considerations into account,
Yours sincerely,
Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President