Far From Justice - Human Rights Watch

II. MethodologySources of current information on the SSSC are very limited. The SSSC does not publish anyof its proceedings or judgments. Access to another potentially important source ofinformation, the defendants themselves, is also severely restricted because mostdefendants tried by the SSSC in the last three years are still in detention, with the vastmajority of them in Sednaya prison, a military-run jail, where visits are strictly controlled.To counter this lack of information, Human Rights Watch relied on five main sources ofinformation:• Observation notes prepared by foreign diplomats attending the SSSC: The diplomatsprovided Human Rights Watch with notes covering 27 court sessions they attendedfrom July 2007 to June 2008. The observation notes usually provide basicinformation on the defendant, the charges against him, the evidence raised in court,whether the defendant alleged being tortured, the sentence, and other limitedobservations by the diplomats about the proceedings.• Statements issued by Syrian lawyers and organizations: A number of Syrian humanrights groups, in particular the Syrian Human Rights Organization-Swasiah and theNational Organization for Human Rights, issue almost-weekly statements on SSSCtrials. These statements are usually based on information obtained from lawyersrepresenting the defendants. Human Rights Watch reviewed all statements issued bythe Syrian groups for 2007-2008 and used the information in these statements toprepare Annex I, which lists all of the defendants known to have appeared before theSSSC between January 2007 and June 2008.• Interviews with diplomats, human rights activists and lawyers representingdefendants: Human Rights Watch interviewed six Western diplomats who attendedsessions before the SSSC, four defense lawyers who regularly represent defendantsbefore the SSSC, and five Syrian human rights activists who met with defendantswho had appeared before the SSSC and had information on the treatment ofdetainees. We conducted six of these interviews in person outside of Syria, and therest over the phone or by e-mail.• Interviews with individuals tried by the SSSC: We conducted interviews with fivedefendants whom the SSSC tried between 2004 and 2005 but who had finishedserving their sentence. Four of these defendants left Syria following their release; weFar From Justice 8