Kamal al-Labwani

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Kamal al-Labwani ( Arabic كمال اللبواني, DMG Kamāl al-Labwānī ; * 1957 in Zabadani, Syria ) is a Syrian doctor and artist who is active in his country's opposition movement. In May 2007 he was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment before the criminal court in Damascus, and in April 2008 to another 3 years. He is considered one of the most prominent members of the Syrian opposition movement and received one of the longest prison terms of all convicted opposition activists in Syria. He was released from custody in November 2011. Following his release, al-Labawani and his family were granted asylum in Sweden.

Life

Labwani comes from the small town of Zabadani in the Rif Dimaschq governorate near the Lebanese border. As a military doctor, he was confronted in 1982 with the massacre in the central Syrian city of Hama , with which the government put down the violent uprising of the Muslim Brotherhood and in which up to 30,000 people lost their lives. This made him go into opposition to the Ba'ath . He founded the “Liberal Democratic Union” of Syria and joined the “ Damascus Spring ” movement around Riyadh Seif , which came into being in 2001, inspired by the change in power in Syria. After Hafiz al-Assad's death on June 10, 2000, his son Bashar took over the government. Bashar al-Assad had studied in London and got married there. He initially presented himself as a representative of liberal views, who campaigned for more freedom and democracy and denounced high-level cases of corruption.

Kamal al-Labwani was arrested in September 2001 after attending a political seminar in the home of Riyadh Seif on September 6th. On August 22, 2002, he was sentenced to 3 years in prison for "coup attempt" . After serving his sentence, he was released in September 2004.

During his first imprisonment, Kamal went on a hunger strike and lost 22 kg until he was given writing and painting supplies. He wrote two books and several poems. The first painting while in custody was a picture of his mother, which was about to be confiscated. In 2005 he managed to bring about 30 of his pictures to England, which were shown there in an exhibition in Basildon . With the proceeds from the sale of 12 of his pictures he financed his travels to the USA and Europe in order to obtain support for the opposition in Syria, the implementation of democracy and human rights in these countries.

In 2005 Labwani toured several European countries and the USA. He spoke to politicians and institutions such as B. the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung , on the political situation in Syria. He was the first Syrian opposition politician to be invited to the White House in Washington, where he campaigned for support for the democracy movement in Syria in talks with advisers to the President. After his return, Kamal al-Labwani was arrested again on November 8, 2005 at Damascus Airport and was held in Adra Prison in Damascus until 2011. His cell was in Wing 5, which is normally reserved for violent inmates. He was reportedly beaten and threatened in prison.

On May 10, 2007, Labwani was sentenced to 12 years in prison by the Damascus Criminal Court. The trial against him did not meet international fair trial standards. He was charged with “communicating with a foreign state to instigate an attack on Syria” .

On April 23, 2008, the Supreme Military Criminal Court in Damascus sentenced him to a further 3 years imprisonment for "weakening national feeling" and "defamation of the head of state", increasing his sentence to a total of 15 years. It appears that these charges are based on a statement made by Dr. Labwani had submitted in his own defense in the previous proceedings before the criminal court. The Foreign Office protested in a press release against the renewed conviction of Kamal al-Labwani.

In June 2008 it became known that he had high blood pressure and a prostate disease that was not being treated.

As a result of the protests in Syria , Assad announced an amnesty in May 2011, which also resulted in al-Labwani's prison sentence being reduced and finally lifted entirely. He was released in November 2011.

Assessments and requests

  • On December 13, 2006, US President George W. Bush called on the Syrian government: "The Syrian regime should immediately free all political prisoners, including Aref Dalila, Michel Kilo , Anwar al-Bunni, Mahmoud Issa, and Kamal Labwani. I am deeply troubled by reports that some ailing political prisoners are denied health care while others are held in cells with violent criminals. "
  • According to Amnesty International , Labwani was sentenced to this prison term only because of his peaceful political activities and expressions of opinion. On May 11, 2007, the German EU Council Presidency asked the Syrian authorities to overturn the judgment against Labwani.
  • The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights found after a detailed examination of the case in March 2009 that Labwani had been detained merely for "peacefully expressing his political views" and was thus being detained "arbitrarily and illegally" .
  • On September 17, 2009, the European Parliament found the illegality of Kamal al-Labwani’s detention and called for the immediate release of all human rights activists and political prisoners.

swell

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Syria: release of 'Damascus Spring' dissident Kamal al-Labwani welcomed , amnesty.org.uk from November 15, 2011 (accessed July 5, 2013).
  2. ↑ Qantara.de: The real revolution will only come after Assad on October 30, 2012 (accessed on July 5, 2013).
  3. ^ Susanne Koelbl: Syria: A 101 Course in Mideast Dictatorships. In: Spiegel Online . February 21, 2005, accessed June 10, 2018 .
  4. ↑ http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendung/grundpolitik/617095/
  5. ↑ http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/12/20061213-2.html
  6. ↑ http://www.taz.de/index.php?id=archivseite&dig=2009/04/30/a0028 April 30, 2009, Taz.de, "Syria's rulers should release imprisoned reformers"
personal data
SURNAME Labwani, Kamal al-
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Syrian doctor and artist
DATE OF BIRTH 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Zabadani, Syria