Far From Justice - Human Rights Watch

The decisions of the SSSC cannot be appealed to a higher tribunal, as required by theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Syria acceded in 1969. 15Rather, the SSSC is under the control of the executive branch, and the power of review andratification of the verdicts of the security court rests with the head of state, who can nullifythe verdict, order a retrial, or lessen the sentence. In practice, Syrian lawyers told us thatverdicts are approved by the minister of interior, in his capacity as deputy martial lawgovernor. 16Defendants are referred to the SSSC by one of Syria’s multiple security services. The referralis usually in the form of a martial order, pursuant to emergency-law powers, signed by theminister of interior. However, according to one experienced lawyer who has monitored theSSSC for years, this referral from the minister of interior is a pure formality, as in practice thesecurity services simply send a copy of their investigations directly to the SSSC. 17Once a detainee has been referred to the SSSC by a martial order, he is questioned by theinvestigating judge (qadi al-tahqiq), who then refers the case to trial. The trial then proceedswith a series of four consecutive sessions—questioning, prosecution, defense, andsentencing—that typically are spaced months apart at minimum.According to observers of the SSSC, court sessions are very short and informal. A Westerndiplomat who attended a number of sessions described the court sessions:What strikes you is that it does not look or feel like a real court. It is in a roomof a house with the judge sitting behind a desk. The judge usually makes ashort summary of the case, asks a few questions to the defendant and then13 The SSSC has in principle two chambers but only one chamber (the one headed by Fayez al-Nuri) is active today. The othertwo judges of the SSSC are the civilian judge Maymun Izz al-Din, and the military judge, Colonel Munjid Badran. Human RightsWatch e-mail from Syrian lawyer S.A., July 31, 2008.14 Ibid; Human Rights Watch interview with Syrian activist Mohamad al-Abdallah, Beirut, August 14, 2008. Legislative DecreeNo. 47, art. 2 states: ”The Supreme State Security Court is formed by decree based on the proposal of the martial lawgovernor.“15 Legislative Decree No. 47, art. 8. Article 14(5) of the ICCPR states: “Everyone convicted of a crime shall have the right to hisconviction and sentence being reviewed by a higher tribunal according to law.” The Syrian government has argued in itsperiodic report to the Human Rights Committee: “In view of the sensitive nature of the cases referred to the Higher StateSecurity Court, its judgments are final but are not enforceable until they have been ratified by the Head of State who, by law,has the right to annul the judgment, order a retrial or a stay of proceedings to reduce or commute the penalty. The President ofthe Republic may issue amnesty for those convicted by the court; in fact he has exercised this power several times.” UNHuman Rights Committee, Consideration of Reports Submitted by State Parties under Article 40 of the Covenant,CCPR/C/SYR/2004/3, para. 66 (October 19, 2004).16 Human Rights Watch e-mail from Syrian lawyer S.A., July 31, 2008..17 Ibid.11 Human Rights Watch February 2009