New York, March 11: Western countries must press Syria on its continued repression of dissidents as part of their efforts to draw Damascus out of political isolation, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday.
“Talking to Syria without putting its rights record on the table emboldens the government to believe that it can do whatever it wants to its people, without consequences,” said the US-based rights group’s Middle East director Sarah Whitson.
“While Syrian officials are chatting with Western diplomats in their gilded front parlors, they’re jailing anyone who dares to utter a critical word in their basement prison cells,” Whitson said.
The US and Europe have sought to improve relations with Syria, a country that could play a key role in the Middle East peace process, and have pressured it to move away from its close alliance with Iran.
US President Barack Obama named a new ambassador to Syria last month, ending a five-year hiatus. Washington recalled its ambassador in 2005 following the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri. That killing was widely blamed on Syria, which has roundly denied any involvement.
HRW said the European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton should raise the issue of human rights on her visit to Syria next week.
“A government that fails to respect the rights of its citizens can’t be counted on to respect any other international obligations,” Whitson said.
Syrian “security services have detained numerous human rights activists, journalists and students who tried to exercise their rights to free expression and assembly,” the rights watchdog said.
Syrian human rights lawyer Muhannad al-Hasani faces charges of “weakening national sentiment” and “spreading false information” for his coverage of Syria’s Supreme State Security Court, the rights watchdog said.
Another rights lawyer, Haytham al-Maleh, 79 and said to be in poor health, has been jailed repeatedly and faces new charges of “insulting the president” and “slandering a governmental body,” HRW said.
—Agencies