a-4537 (ACC-SYR-4537)
Nach einer Recherche in unserer Länderdokumentation und im Internet können wir Ihnen zu oben genannter Fragestellung Materialien zur Verfügung stellen, die unter anderem folgende Informationen enthalten:
Mehrere Quellen berichten von einem Internierungslager namens „Fara' Falastin“ (alternative Schreibweise: „Far’ Filisteen“) in Damaskus. Auf Englisch wird der Ausdruck „Palestine Branch“, auf Deutsch „palästinensische Abteilung“ für das Haftzentrum verwendet. Amnesty International (AI) beschreibt „Far’ Filisteen“ im September 2004 als extrem überbelegte Hafteinrichtung des Militärgeheimdienstes:
„amnesty international ist in ernster Sorge um die Sicherheit und den Gesundheitszustand von Ayman Ardeli, der seit längerer Zeit in der extrem überbelegten Hafteinrichtung „Far’ Filisteen“ (Palästinensische Abteilung) des Militärgeheimdienstes in der Hauptstadt Damaskus festgehalten wird.“ (AI, 28. September 2004)
Amnesty International (AI) berichtet im August 2001 von zwei Fällen, in denen Menschen in einem Internierungslager namens „Fara' Falastin, Palestine Branch“ bzw „Far' Falastin“ festgehalten worden seien:
“Mudar al-Jundi, a 34-year-old engineer, was reportedly arrested or abducted by members of al-Amn al-'Askari (Military Intelligence) at seven o'clock in the evening of 20 September 1987 in Baghdad Street in Damascus, on suspicion of being a member of the PCA. He had been sought by the authorities in connection with the PCA since 1984. He was apparently taken to Fara' Falastin, Palestine Branch, detention centre in Damascus, but has not been seen or heard from since. The authorities have not acknowledged his detention. In 1995 certain reports suggested that Mudar al-Jundi had been tried and executed in 1988. Nevertheless the Syrian authorities have never publicly acknowledged the arrest, trial or execution of Mudar al-Jundi.
Khadija Yahya Bukhari, a Lebanese singer born in 1940, was arrested at Beirut airport on 28 April 1992. She had just returned from Cyprus by sea but went to the airport to inquire about her son and daughter who had been arrested at their home before her return. After her arrest Khadija Bukhari was taken with her son and daughter to the Syrian Intelligence centre at the Beau Rivage, then 'Anjar; they were then transferred to detention centres in Syria (Far' al-Tahqiq al-'Askari and Far' Falastin). Both her son and daughter were subsequently released, but the fate and whereabouts of Khadija Bukhari was unknown. In June 2000 Amnesty International received a letter from the Syrian Government stating ''Khadija Yahya Bukhari was arrested on 29 April 1992 because of her connection with Israeli intelligence Service [sic] in Cyprus and her activities to recruit a Syrian Officer to co-operate with the Israeli Intelligence Service. Mrs Bukhari was brought to trial and sentenced to death. The death sentence was carried on 2 December 1992. The Officer was also sentenced to death and the sentence was carried out.'' The family of Khadija Bukhari was never informed about her trial and execution.” (AI, 13. August 2001)
Mehrere Quellen berichten über den Fall des syrisch-kanadischen Doppelstaatsbürgers Maher Arar, der im Jahr 2002 von den USA nach Syrien deportiert wurde, wo er sich rund ein Jahr in Haft befunden habe. Arar sei in der Haftanstalt “Palestine branch” des syrischen Militärgeheimdienstes gefoltert worden:
“That life came to an abrupt end on Sept. 26, 2002, when Arar was pulled aside while passing through J.F.K. after a vacation in Tunisia, where most of his wife’s family lives. He was detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, where he says U.S. authorities questioned him for 10 days. Then, in the middle of the night, he was put into shackles and spirited away via Jordan to Syria, a country he hadn’t been to in 16 years— despite the fact that he was a naturalized Canadian citizen traveling on a Canadian passport en route to Canada. Arar ended up in a dark, 1-m by 2-m cell he calls the “grave” in the Syrian military intelligence agency’s Palestine branch in Damascus. He was held there without charge for 10 months and 10 days. During his first two weeks, he claims, he was interrogated about people he had known in Canada, sometimes for 18 hours at a time, and tortured. One punishment, he says, was repeated lashings with a 5-cm black metal cable on his palms, wrists, lower back and hips. The mental ordeal was also brutal, he said in November 2003 at one of the most dramatic press conferences ever televised in Canada. “The second and third days were the worst,” he told the world that day. “I could hear other prisoners being tortured, and screaming.” During his first week in prison, he says, he falsely confessed that he had received military training in Afghanistan.” (Time Canada, ohne Datum; vgl. Counter Punch, 6. November 2003; CBC News Online, 4. November 2003)
Auf der Website Guardians of the Cedars wird eine Reihe von syrischen Internierungslagern aufgezählt, in denen libanesische Bürger festgehalten worden seien. In der Liste befindet sich auch „Palestine Branch“. Es wird betont, dass dies nur die bekanntesten Anstalten seien, da nicht alle Gefängnisse bekannt seien:
“We have full account of the Israeli prisons where the Lebanese are detained. This is not the case with Syria where there are numerous detention centers. The best known of these detention centers are:
a- Mazze (Syria)
b- Tadmur (Syria)
c- Azra (Syria)
d- Talfiteh (Syria)
e- Anjar (Beqaa, Lebanon)
f- Na'ameh (south of Beirut, Lebanon)
g- Bourivage Hotel (Beirut, Lebanon)
h- Oussaya (Beqaa, Lebanon)
I- Palestine Branch (Syria)”
In dem Bericht wird der Weg beschrieben, den Gefangene aus dem Libanon bis in syrische Haftanstalten nehmen würden: Von Beirut würden Häftlinge nach Anjar im Bekaa-Tal gebracht, von dort weiter in die „palästinensische Abteilung“ in Damaskus, wo sie vom Geheimdienst verhört würden. Danach würden sie auf andere Gefängnisse verteilt, wo sie offenbar verschwinden würden:
“The prisoners (with complete neglect to the Lebanese laws and authorities) are detained first in detention centers inside Lebanon. The two main Syrian officers in charge of Intelligence are Ghazi Kanaan and Rustum Ghazali. The `blood road' starts in Beirut and then to Anjar in the Bekaa valley. Days later, the detainees are transferred to Palestine Branch, down-town Damascus, for more interrogation with the `Mukhabarat'. Weeks later the detainees are transferred to the various Syrian prisons where they evidently disappear. Many of them were released, but hundreds are still in detention. Nothing is known about their fate. According to a 1989 report published by Amnesty International, there are 38 methods of torture inside Syrian prisons. People coming back speak of horrors taking place inside the walls of those prisons.” (Guardians of the Cedars, ohne Datum)
Der UN-Sonderberichterstatter der Commission On Human Rights erwähnt in seinem Bericht vom März 2005 den Fall eines libanesischen Staatsbürgers, der am 7. Juni 2004 an der syrisch-libanesischen Grenze verhaftet worden sei und seither ohne Kontakt zur Außenwelt im Palestine Branch Detention Centre in Damaskus festgehalten werde.
“1714. Muhammad Ramiz Sultan , a Lebanese national. On 7 June 2004, he was arrested by members of the Syrian security forces at the Syrian-Lebanese borders as he and his wife traveled to Syria for a holiday. Since his arrest, he has been held incommunicado at the Palestine Branch Detention Centre in Damascus.” (UN Commission On Human Rights, 30. März 2005)
Der UN-Sonderberichterstatter erwähnt auch einen syrisch-australischen Doppelstaatsbürger, der in einer überfüllten Zelle in Far'Filisteen, die als „Grabzelle“ bekannt sei, festgehalten werde:
“1716. On 29 September 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, concerning Ayman Ardeli , a 44 year-old Australian and Syrian nationalities. According to the allegations received, he is being held at the Palestine Branch (Far'Filisteen) of Military Intelligence in an overcrowded cell known as a "tomb" cell (i.e. measure 475cm by 475cm and houses between 20 and 60 people). He was arrested at Damascus Airport in August 2003, and initially detained at the Aleppo Branch of Military Intelligence, where he was subjected to torture and other forms of ill-treatment. He has been held incommunicado for more than one year without access to his family, a lawyer, or Consular officials.” (UN Commission On Human Rights, 30. März 2005)
In den ACCORD derzeit zur Verfügung stehenden Quellen konnten keine Informationen zu einer gleichnamigen Hafteinrichtung bei Hama gefunden werden.
Laut Angaben des US Department of State (USDOS) vom Februar 2005 sei es dem International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) nicht gestattet, Gefangenenbesuche zur Bewertung der Situation von Gefangenen oder Gefängnissen in Syrien zu machen:
“The Government did not permit independent monitoring of prison or detention center conditions; however, diplomatic or consular officials were granted access in some cases. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is not allowed to make prison visits to assess the situation of the prisons or prisoners.” (USDOS, 28. Februar 2005, Section 1.c)
Im letzten Jahresbericht zu Syrien des ICRC vom Juni 2005 werden keine Besuche von Gefängnissen oder Haftanstalten erwähnt. Es wird lediglich erwähnt, dass das ICRC erstmals Anfragen von syrischen Bürgern erhalten habe, die sich um das Schicksal von vermissten Angehörigen sorgen, die sie in syrischer Haft vermuteten. Diese Fälle seien den syrischen Behörden zur Kenntnis gebracht worden:
“For the first time the ICRC received tracing requests from Syrians seeking news of the fate or whereabouts of family members reported missing and presumed to be held in detention in Syria. These cases were brought to the attention of the Syrian authorities. (ICRC, 17. Juni 2005, S. 297)
Diese Informationen beruhen auf einer zeitlich begrenzten Recherche in öffentlich zugänglichen Dokumenten, die ACCORD derzeit zur Verfügung stehen. Die Antwort stellt keine abschließende Meinung zur Glaubwürdigkeit eines bestimmten Asylansuchens dar.
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