Last of the Damascus Ten Are Sentenced

On August 28, Syria's state security court sentenced the last three of the ten opposition figures arrested last fall and indicted for political crimes. Fawaz Tello, an engineer, was sentenced to five years in prison for undermining the constitution, inciting sedition and spreading lies, while Dr. Kamal Labwani and Hassan Saadoun were sentenced to three and two years, respectively, for the latter two charges.

In March, Syrian MP Mamoun al-Homsi was sentenced to five years in prison. A second member of parliament, Riyad Sayf, received the same sentence in April. On June 24, businessman and novelist Habib Saleh was sentenced to three years. On June 26, Riyad al-Turk, the chairman of the Communist Party Political Bureau (CPPB), received five years. On July 31, well-known economist Aref Dalila was sentenced to ten years and Walid al-Bunni, a doctor and prominent human rights activist, was given five years. On August 19, lawyer Habib Issa received 5 years imprisonment.

Although the country witnessed a brief period of political liberalization following the ascension of President Bashar Assad in July 2000, the Syrian military-intelligence apparatus stepped in and halted the opening in February 2001.

German-Syrian Relations Strained

In June, a spokesman for the foreign ministry in Berlin said that the Syrian government denied a request by German investigators to meet with Mohammad Haydar Zammar, a Syrian-born German national accused of being one of the principal logistical masterminds of the September 11 attacks. Zammar, who was linked to Mohammad Atta - the ringleader of the hijackers - was extradited from Morocco and is being held in Damascus.

On June 30, the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported that Berlin was pushing for Hezbollah to be included in the European Union's official list of terrorist organizations, a move that could block future EU loans to Damascus.

On July 28, the weekly Der Spiegal reported that German Federal Prosecutors dropped espionage charges against two Syrians accused of spying on Syrian dissidents in Germany because a trial would conflict with "the public interest in combating international terrorism."

Bashar Can't Keep a Secret

In mid-June, Syrian President Bashar Assad told a visiting American delegation headed by former Senator James Abourezk that Syrian intelligence agencies had uncovered a major Al-Qa'ida plot earlier this year and passed the information to the US. Assad was angry, however, that American officials not only have refused to publicly acknowledge Syria's role in foiling the plot, but had told him that he could not speak openly about it. According to Abourezk, Assad threatened to break his silence and publicly take credit unless Bush administration officials stop referring to Syria as a terrorist state.

At a June 21 news conference during his visit to the United Nations, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa declared that Syria's cooperation in the war on terror has "helped in rescuing American lives."