Far From Justice - Human Rights Watch

of a court session when the detainee is in the holding cell of the SSSC and within earshot ofthe security guards. 34 A defense lawyer described the difficulties he faced talking to hisclient at the SSSC:The security guard often interferes in the conversation and asks the lawyernot to advise the detainee on some legal aspects of his case, or ask thedetainee to deny certain issues. In some cases, even court staff intervene torestrict communication with the detainee…The harassment has gotten so badthat I have refused lately even to try to talk to my clients through the door ofthe holding cell. 35These restrictions mean that many defendants never get to discuss their defense strategyand the evidence against them with their lawyers. A defendant told Human Rights Watchhow he learned of his lawyer’s written defense at the beginning of his defense session andimmediately sought to dismiss him because he disagreed with the approach adopted. 36Defense lawyers complained to Human Rights Watch that the court denies them theopportunity to engage in oral defense and requires them to content themselves withsubmitting written defense statements to the court. 37 According to these lawyers, inpreparing their written defense, the SSSC only allows them to examine the prosecutor’sindictment (Karar ittiham al-niyaba al-`ama) and not the all-important preliminaryinvestigation in the security branches, even though Legislative Decree 47 preserves thedefendant’s right of defense in trials before the SSSC and article 275 of the Syrian Code ofCriminal Procedure provides that “a defense lawyer has the right to copy at his expense alldocuments that he deems valuable for his defense.” 38defendants before SSSC are detained in the political wing of `Adra prison, a civilian-run prison. In principle, lawyers areallowed to visit their clients in `Adra after a trial has started, but this remains subject to the whim of the security services.Human Rights Watch interview with Syrian lawyer C.C., October 29, 2008.34 The report by the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies quotes one of the lawyers saying “often, security agentsinterfere in the discussion with our clients. For example, we would be asking our client if he was tortured, the security officerwould say that this question is not allowed and would ask us to move on. Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies, “Isthere justice in Exceptional Courts?,” p. 17. An activist recalled a case where the lawyer Khalil Ma`tuk was even preventedfrom shaking the hand of his client, Omar al-Abdullah during the defense session on April 15, 2007 after an officer in themilitary police intervened directly. Human Rights Watch interview with Muhammad Abdallah, Beirut, September 8, 2008.35 Human Rights Watch interview with Syrian lawyer C.C., October 29, 2008.36 Human Rights Watch phone interview with former detainee S.S., November 17, 2008.37 Human Rights Watch interview with Syrian lawyer C.C., October 29, 2008; Human Rights Watch e-mail from Syrian lawyerS.A., July 31, 2008.38 Code of Criminal Procedure, Decree no. 112, March 13, 1950. See also, analysis in Damascus Center for Human RightsStudies, “Is there justice in Exceptional Courts?”, p. 18.15 Human Rights Watch February 2009