Far From Justice - Human Rights Watch

democracy.” 138 The sentencing was scheduled for May 19, 2008 but subsequentnotes by diplomats and Syrian lawyers make no mention of such a session.• On May 11, 2008, the SSSC interrogated Ousama Zab`oun, a teacher and acalligraphist from Hama, accused of “weakening national sentiment” and belongingto a “salafi group planning to use terrorist means.” According to diplomat’s notes,the evidence against him was that he wrote “salafi expressions on a banner destinedfor a mosque” and possessed banned salafi books. The defendant denied anyknowledge that the words on the banners were salafi and reported that theMosque’s sheikh had told him these were words from the Prophet Muhammad. 139The next session was scheduled for July 21, 2008, but the SSSC suspended itsoperations at the beginning of July.• On May 11, 2008, the SSSC interrogated Mustafa Mamo and `Omar Sheikh al-Ard forawakening sectarian strife and belonging to a salafi group planning terrorist acts.According to diplomat’s notes, the SSSC focused on books owned by the two as wellas confessions about meetings they held. The notes state that Mamo admitted tomeeting a group from the Jam`at al-Da`wa wal Tabligh (“group that propagates thefaith”) and to owning the books seized from his house, but indicated that heobtained these books during his pilgrimage to Mecca. 140 According to the same notes,the court accused Omar Sheikh al-Ard of adhering to a Wahhabi movement andowning forbidden books that security police seized from his apartment. 141 The nextsession was scheduled for July 28, 2008, but the SSSC suspended its operations atthe beginning of July.• On May 18, 2008, the SSSC interrogated Mohamad Bassem Majni and his brotherFiras, two owners of a restaurant in Sahnaya, for belonging to a group that “sought tomodify the nature of the state.” According to a diplomat’s notes, the evidenceagainst them was a tape found in their car containing Islamist teachings and salafibooks found at their home, including a book entitled Riyad al-Saleheen (Heavens of138 Trial notes by European diplomats, April 20, 2008 (on record with Human Rights Watch).139 Trial notes by European diplomats, May 11, 2008 (on record with Human Rights Watch).140 Ibid. The Jam`at al-Da`wa wal Tabligh was founded in India in 1927 by Maulana Muhammad Ilyas, later spreadinginternationally to become one of the largest Muslim organizations in the world. The Jama’at al-Tabligh (as it is often referredto) describes itself as a nonpolitical, nonviolent group interested in proselytizing and bringing wayward Muslims back toIslam. It reportedly focuses on teaching and encouraging individuals to follow Islamic practices in matters of ritual, dress, andpersonal behavior while eschewing conflict and violence in its efforts to reshape individual lives through participation in amoral community. According to Rand Corporation, “the vast majority of the followers of the worldwide Jama’at al-Tablighmovement are nonviolent, although a small fringe of the movement has been associated with Talibanesque militancy and isbelieved to be a channel for recruitment into terrorist groups,” Rand Corporation, “the Muslim World after 9/11,”http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2004/RAND_MG246.pdf, p. 6, 301-2.141 Trial notes by European diplomats, May 11, 2008 (on record with Human Rights Watch).41 Human Rights Watch February 2009