Syrian Defender Aktham Naisse Acquitted

Update: Human Rights First welcomes the acquittal of Aktham Naisse on all charges on June 26, 2005. After numerous delays, the Supreme State Security Court in Damascus has dropped all of the illegitimate and unwarranted charges made against this peaceful human rights activist, as demanded by many international and regional human rights organizations.

Leading human rights activist Aktham Naisse is a founding member of the Committee for the Defense of Democratic Liberties and Human Rights in Syria (CDF), which emerged in 1989 during a period when Arab human rights activists were hopeful that the democratic transformation sweeping Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union would spread to their region; they were to be disappointed. The CDF was met with harsh repression. Aktham Naisse was sentenced to nine years in prison after an unfair trial before Supreme State Security Court in 1992.

The latest prosecution of Mr. Naisse began on April 13, 2004, when he was arrested on charges of “opposing the objectives of the revolution,” “disseminating false information,” and “affiliation with international organizations” (see Defender Alert 1/19/05). All of these charges related to his legitimate activities as a human rights defender. Procedures before the Supreme State Security Court (SSSC) fell far short of international standards; SSSC judges are not independent, but rather appointed by the National Security Office of the Ba’ath Party – a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Syria is a State Party.

The charges faced by Mr. Naisse constituted clear violations of the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, which the Syrian government played an active part in drafting. Article 6(b) of the Declaration provides that: “Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others…freely to publish, impart or disseminate to other views, information and knowledge of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

Following an international outcry of support for Mr. Naisse and criticism of the Syrian government’s persecution of a peaceful human rights activist, Aktham Naisse was ultimately acquitted on all charges on June 26, 2005.

Human Rights First welcomes the acquittal of Mr. Naisse, who this year was awarded the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, and calls on the Syrian government to lift restrictions on the legitimate, peaceful activities of all human rights defenders and to recognize the important contribution made by independent human rights organizations in Syria.