VZCZCXRO6147
OO RUEHAG
DE RUEHDM #2401 1441446
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 241446Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9156
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0071
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 002401 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/24/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KCRM SY LB
SUBJECT: SYRIA PURSUES CASES AGAINST JUMBLATT AND KHADDAM 
 
REF: DAM 1511 
 
Classified By: CDA Kathy Johnson-Casares for reasons 1.4 b/d 
 
¶1.  (C) Syrian authorities have requested that Interpol 
arrest Lebanese lawmaker Walid Jumblatt after a Syrian 
military prosecutor issued a warrant on May 22, according to 
local media and contacts.  A Syrian military court issued a 
summons for Jumblatt on May 3 for "inciting against Syria," 
following the filing of a private suit on similar charges by 
private Syrian lawyer Hossam a-din Habash, according to 
Damascus Associated Press bureau chief Albert Aji.  Earlier 
this year, regional media reported that a Syrian court had 
issued subpoenas for Jumblatt and two other Lebanese after 
the Syrian lawyers syndicate accused the three in a court in 
the Lattakia region for "infringing on national unity" 
(reftel).  Prominent local attorney Jacques Hakim dismissed 
the seriousness of the charges against Jumblatt, telling 
Polchief that politicians had immunity for speech made in the 
course of exercising their political functions.  Hakim also 
called the charges against Jumblatt the product of a fearful, 
besieged regime. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Habash has also filed criminal charges against 
former Syrian VP Abdul Halim Khaddam for encouraging the 
invasion of Syria and for establishing contacts with Israel, 
according to the AP.  A military court indicted Khaddam on 
several charges, including conspiracy and attempts to usurp 
power and stir hostility against Syria, earlier this year, 
according to media reports.  SARG authorities subsequently 
asked Interpol's office in France to hand over Khaddam, who 
is living in Paris, according to AP reports.  Khaddam 
dismissed the seriousness of the charges and the validity of 
the Interpol request in a May 15 interview with the Daily 
Star of Lebanon.  Khaddam asserted that Interpol is banned 
from interfering in cases related to politics, the military, 
ethnic and religious matters.  As for establishing contacts 
with Israel, Khaddam noted that he had met (and been 
interviewed by) an Israeli Arab, an action that Syrian 
President Bashar al-Asad took regularly in meeting with 
Israeli Arab members of the Knesset. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Syria's Prime Minister and Finance Minister have 
filed separate corruption charges in civil court against 
Khaddam and his extended family, seeking to seize the family 
assets in Syria, according to Aji.  Khaddam and his wife and 
23 family members have been summoned to appear in court in 
Banias on June 12, the AP reported. 
 
¶4.  (C) According to several of our contacts Habash is an 
opportunist who filed the cases against Jumblatt and Khaddam 
to make a name for himself.  According to independent Syrian 
MP Basil Dahdouh, the SARG was using the military court cases 
to show its critics and the Syrian public that it would take 
strong action against its opponents.  The SARG was also 
trying to show the international community that just as the 
UN has the authority to investigate Syrians in connection 
with the assassination of former Lebanese PM Hariri so too 
does the SARG have legal means to take action against its 
critics, Dahdouh said. 
 
¶5.  (C) Comment:  Syria's legal system is opaque, and we have 
heard and seen several slightly different iterations of the 
myriad of charges against Jumblatt and Khaddam and regarding 
who is initiating the charges.  Clearly, however, the SARG is 
using any means available to make life difficult for its 
opponents, even those outside the country. 
JOHNSON-CASARES