Syrian group decries week of "farcical trials"

Feb 7, 2008, 12:09 GMT

Damascus - A Syrian human rights group on Thursday decried the 'farcical trials' of a mental health patient accused of promoting jihadist thought and a dissident on charges of spreading rumours to undermine the country while in prison.

'This week will go down in Syria's modern history ... as a week of judiciary farces,' the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement, referring to a number of cases tried this week.

On Wednesday, Anas al-Turk stood trial on charges of promoting extremist Islamist ideas although the court was aware of his long history of mental illness - a congenital nervous system disturbance - the statement said.

A second man, dissident Kamal al-Labwani, who is serving a 12-year prison sentence, appeared in a military criminal court Tuesday to face charges of spreading rumours against the country's interests.

Al-Labwani is accused of spreading false news among his fellow inmates in Dira prison.

'The Syrian authorities have gone as far as trying prisoners for having normal conversations with other prisoners and having dreams in their cells,' the human rights group said.

Another trial, according to the group, involved communist activist Fatih Jamus, who had already served 18 years in prison for political crimes.

Jamus faces a prison sentence with hard labour for stirring up civil war and sectarian strife. He was arrested in 2006 and released after the charges were reduced to the milder accusation of spreading false information about the country abroad, according to the group.

But a court later ruled that he be tried for the initial criminal charges.

The Syrian human rights group has accused the country's judges of belonging to the ruling Baath Party - hence their partiality towards the defendants.

Damascus has recently launched a crackdown on dissidents, especially members of the pro-democracy Damascus Declaration group formed in 2005.