Soparo Kurdish news website

The first court hearing of a new trial against the detained lawyer Haitham al-Maleh, started on Monday, February 22, 2010 before the first military individual judge  in Damascus on charges of slandering the President of the Republic and dispraising public administrations.

The new charges are based on a fabricated report a criminal prisoner has written and submitted to the prison administration upon which it briefed the military court. Regardless of the alleged case and the trial procedures, some of those who attended the court session, activists, family and lawyers (including two Italian lawyers from the International Federation for Human Rights) and foreign diplomats, noticed that Mr. al-Maleh's health is deteriorating, that his voice can barely be heard due to the general weakness he suffers and not getting health care and not being allowed to get his essential medicines.

The Secretariat of the Damascus Declaration, which feels deeply hurt of the status of this great jurist and dignified old man, who is eighty years old, expresses its strong condemnation of this inhuman treatment which is inconsistent with the basic conditions of lawful arrest and deplores submitting him to trial once more in order to torture and humiliate him, and calls upon all civil society bodies and human rights organizations in the nation and the world, as well as all interested and free- conscience people to raise their voices and intervene to save the life of Mr. al-Maleh, and to stop this malicious serial towards the Syrian prisoners of conscience by adding new charges against them while they  are in prison, as has been the case with Dr. Kamal Labwani, Walid al-Bunni, Anwar al-Bunni and Fa'ez Sarah, and as also happening now with Mr. Maleh.

Freedom for all prisoners of conscience

Long live free Syria, homeland and citizens

Damascus, 22/2/2010

Secretariat