VZCZCXRO3229
PP RUEHAG RUEHROV
DE RUEHDM #0010/01 0021404
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 021404Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4512
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 0650
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUMICEA/USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0331

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DAMASCUS 000010 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PARIS FOR JORDAN; LONDON FOR TSOU 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/01/2018 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KDEM SY
SUBJECT: SYRIANS PUBLICLY DENY ANY DEAL TO RELEASE 
POLITICAL DETAINEES 
 
REF: A. DAMASCUS 0002 
     ¶B. DAMASCUS 0004 
     ¶C. DAMASCUS 0005 
     ¶D. 07 STATE 171106 
 
Classified By: CDA Todd Holmstrom for reasons 1.4 b and d 
 
¶1. (C) Summary. On January 1, the Syrian regime issued a 
strongly-worded statement categorically denying that 
President Asad discussed or made any assertion to Senator 
Specter and Representative Kennedy that the seven detained 
National Council members had been or would be released. 
While the SARG can control what its own public sees to an 
extent, its clumsy handling of the issue has increased 
international media attention to Syria,s negative human 
rights record. End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
WE TALK, YOU LISTEN 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) On January 1, the SARG issued a statement through the 
official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) denying that 
President Bashar al-Asad discussed with or made any sort of 
pledge to Senator Arlen Specter or Representative Kennedy to 
release the seven detained members of the newly-formed 
National Council or to halt the campaign against political 
opposition in Syria.  The official news agency quoted a SARG 
official as saying that human rights were not even discussed 
and that it is forbidden for foreign officials to discuss 
internal Syrian matters adding that, &what any foreign 
official can raise is to ask about the situation in general 
and to listen to answers regarding them.8  The same story 
was picked up in the government-run daily Tishreen on January 
¶2. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
HE SAID, WE SAID, HE SAID 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶3. (C) The forceful statement comes after two days of SARG 
silence following Representative Kennedy,s December 30 
remarks during a press conference at Damascus International 
Airport saying, &The president assured me personally they 
(the detained National Council members) were released.8 
Kennedy had brought up the issue of the seven detained 
National Council members during the CODEL,s December 30 
meeting with President Asad.  According to Post reporting on 
the meeting, Asad said the following (ref A): 
 
-- Syrians can only be arrested if they violate Syria law 
 
-- All National Council members had been released 
 
-- Embassy should pass any names of those Congressman Kennedy 
believed were still in detention to Foreign Minister Mu'allim 
 
On December 29, Representative Kennedy also raised the issue 
with FM Mu,allim who said that the government only arrests 
those opposition members who have &relations with foreign 
powers8 (ref B).  To this point, local human rights contacts 
assert the seven are still in custody. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
VIEWS ABOUT SARG,S MOTIVES 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶4. (C) According to human rights lawyer Rezan Zeitunah, the 
international media scrutiny on president Asad has put the 
regime in a difficult and unexpected position.  Zeitunah said 
that the security services have contacted human rights 
activists and political opponents of the regime warning them 
to keep quiet on the subject.  Journalists, too, are feeling 
the heat.  Western news service reporters told us that &no 
one will be able to raise this issue8 in FM Mu,allim,s 
press conference today, because the SARG wants the issue to 
die and will blacklist any reporter who brings it up.  The 
regime,s discomfort is because the international media, 
especially the Arabic international media, has identified 
Asad as the key actor responsible for the promised release, 
Zeitunah said.  The international spotlight has thereby 
 
DAMASCUS 00000010  002 OF 002 
 
 
thwarted a strategy the regime has often used in the past 
where one part of the government agrees to one thing while 
another part of the government will then deny it, according 
to Zeitunah. 
 
¶5. (C) An Arab diplomatic contact told us Asad committed a 
grave error by committing to release people without knowing 
first who they were.  He also showed bad judgment in 
underestimating the willingness of U.S. members of Congress 
to recount their conversations with Asad publicly.  At the 
same time Asad &has no choice8 but to project an image of 
strength and counter the impression that he lost face, 
according to the Arab diplomat.  &If Kennedy thought going 
public would help (the detainees) he was wrong.8  By 
speaking out publicly, this source said, &Kennedy guaranteed 
their continued detention.8  (Note: Former MP and oppositin 
leader Riad Seif pushed Kennedy to publicly recite what Asad 
told him asserting the pledge would otherwise be quietly 
forgotten and the SARG would calculate it could detain them 
indefinitely in the absence of international pressure.) (ref 
C)  Local human rights activists Muhannad al-Hasani and Ammar 
Qurabi echoed the Arab diplomat,s assessment saying that the 
government,s most recent statement means the case of the 
seven National Council detainees has become more complicated 
and it will not be easy for the government to release them 
now. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
KEEPING THE STORY IN PLAY 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) It now appears that the story of the seven detained 
National Council members is starting to gather international 
notoriety after Representative Kennedy,s comments at the 
Damascus press conference.  In what is a rare occurrence, 
international media outlets have started to report the 
on-going detention of the seven National Council members with 
coverage appearing in the Associated Press, the International 
Herald Tribune, Reuters, and al-Arabiya. 
 
¶7. (C) Comment. The SARG's clumsy handling of the case has 
kept the story alive and we could expect additional press 
querries and requests for comment.  For now, we recommend 
that the President,s December 14 statement to stand on its 
own as our definitive position regarding the National Council 
and the release of the detainees.  We also suggest Washington 
consider press guidance to highlight the SARG,s 
contradiction on this issue.   U.S. Posts could use the 
guidance regarding the recent news stories in future 
demarches in to western capitals to request similar 
statements to further pressure the regime to allow more 
political freedom (ref D). 
HOLMSTROM