The totalitarian regime ruling Syria for over 40 years has been characterised by a total suppression of public freedoms, violations of the constitution and the law and the exclusion of any viable role for civil society or political organisations, including any possibility for syndicate actions.
When Bashar al-Assad took power in 2000, with grand promises of initiating the reform process in the country, numerous Syrian lawyers began to dedicate themselves to the work of defending the rule of law, achievement of justice and protection of all rights, through the defence of prisoners of conscience and political prisoners, and all citizens whose rights had been violated in this regard. They attempted, moreover, to activate the potential of lawyers’ unions which had effectively been made redundant.
Similarly, the legitimate and peaceful uprising of the Syrian people initiated earlier this year which is demanding the defence of their freedoms, rights and dignity – all of which have been suppressed by the current government in just the same was as they were by the previous one – has been accompanied by severe repression by the government. These government actions, including killings, torture and abuses reach the level of crimes against humanity.
As regards the Syrian Bar Association, its position until now has been deeply disappointing. By remaining silent in the face of the atrocities it has witnessed, contributing to the misleading media information about the situation, and with the case of several lawyers who have been co-opted by security branches to participate in the repression that their own colleagues – lawyers – are working hard to dispute, making the Bar Association in a sense an accomplice in these violations.
So we, lawyers from various cities and governorates in Syria, hereby have decided to form the “Committee of Syrian Lawyers for Freedom”. We declare our support to the uprising of the Syrian people and their legitimate demands. We are committed in this role to rising to our responsibilities firstly as citizens, and secondly as lawyers. We support the uprising and the achievement of its goals, and as a first step we commit ourselves to the following:
1. Provide free-of-charge legal assistance for all victims of the regime’s violations to all those who seek it, for victims including those killed, missing, arrested or detained, and injured. We will provide legal counsel and work towards bringing the perpetrators of these violations to justice in court and thereby defending the rights of the victims and following their legal cases.
2. Activate and unite the work of lawyers’ unions who are participating through their work in the movement of peaceful protest throughout Syria, in order to be able to issue statements that reflect the general public opinion in Syria regarding these violations and those responsible for them, to call for sit-ins and demonstrations to protest these violations.
3. Conduct monitoring and documentation of all types of legal or constitutional violations which have caused public or private damage and prepare the legal ground for bringing to justice all those who committed these violations, ordered them to be committed, or in any way participated in them.
4. Work towards drafting a new constitution and amending existing legislation, to make all legislation in accordance with the vision and demands of all segments of society and in compliance with standards of international human rights law, with the aim of moving towards the creation of a new democratic, civil and pluralistic Syria.
Finally, The Committee of Syrian Lawyers for Freedom offers its sincerest condolences to all families of those who have been victims of the repression against freedom and apologises to the Syrian people in cases where the lawyers have been prevented from being able to fulfil all their national duties and defend the peoples’ rights as is assumed of them as their professional duty.
And, as mentioned, the Committee calls on all our colleagues working in the legal field to join this Committee and help it achieve its goals of victory for the freedoms and dignity of our great people.
For a free and democratic Syria
For our free and dignified people
4th August 2011
Official spokesperson for the committee: Prof. Lawyer Mohammed Issa
