On March 10, 2010, the first public hearing of the trial of human
rights lawyer Mr. Muhannad Al-Hassani,
President of the Syrian
Organisation for Human Rights
“Sawassyah”, Commissioner
of the International Commission of Jurists
(ICJ) , was held before the Second Chamber
of the Damascus Criminal
Court in the presence of numerous
human rights activists and lawyers, foreign embassies representatives, and international observers, notably Mr Mario
LANA, Deputy
president of IDHAE
During his hearing,
Mr. Al-Hassani recalled
that the accusations held
against him are groundless. He recalled that “Sawassyah” was set up in conformity with Syrian legal provisions, and that according to its status, hearings before the Supreme State
Security Court are public. Mr. Al-Hassani stressed that his organisation has always
denounced all kinds
of human rights
violations, be it at the national or regional
levels. He also challenged anyone to bring evidence that “Sawassyah” has ever “spread false news” during its six years of existence. In his
conclusion, Mr. Al-Hassani stated
that “human rights principles represent a humanist achievement for the sake of
the weak, the oppressed
and voiceless people. It is
a noble commitment, and I am
innocent of all criminal accusations that are made against me”.
The next hearing will be held on April 6, 2010.
Mr. Al-Hassani faces a sentence of up to 15 years of imprisonment.
In addition, Mr. Al-Hassani faces another penal procedure following his request to attend French lessons
given within the
prison, a move that reminds
penal procedures undertaken against several other human rights defenders, notably Mr. Haytham
Al-Maleh, Mr. Anwar Al-Bunni, Mr. Kamal Al-Labwani and Mr. Walid Al-Bunni on the basis of the testimony of other detainees.
On March 13, 2010, several prisoners of
conscience detained in the Adra
prison in Damascus, including
Mr. Mohannad Al-Hassani,
Mr. Jaber Al-Shoufie, a member
of the Committees for the Defence
of Freedoms and Human
Rights in Syria
(CDF), and Mr. Riad Al-Seif, a
pro-democracy activist,
decided to give up their visitation rights to protest to the penitentiary
administration’s attempt
to compel them to keep their prison uniform during visits. This measure illustrates the discriminatory
conditions of detention for prisoners
of conscience, such as restricted
access to their lawyers and families during their visits, deprivation of a bed, constant scrutiny and harassment from their cellmates.
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