While the flames of revolution engulf the whole of the Middle East in Syria left activists face severe punishment merely for expressing their views. We call on our readers and supporters to send protest letters/emails to the Syrian authorities demanding the release of four activists sentenced to several years in prison on January 23.
We recently published news of the imprisonment of four left-wing activists in Syria. (See Syria: Four convicted leftists must be released). Please take this up in your trade union, party, student group, etc., and get support for the release of these activists and send on a protest letter signed by individuals or groups.
We are providing a Model Letter that can be copied and signed and sent to the Syrian authorities (details provided). Please also send a copy to editor@marxist.com so that we can inform the campaigners of any solidarity action taken.
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Dear Sir or Madam,
We have been informed via Amnesty International that four Syrian men were imprisoned on 23 January after being found guilty of involvement with an unauthorized left-wing political party. ‘Abbas ‘Abbas, aged 65, was sentenced to seven and a half years’ imprisonment and Ahmed al-Nihawi, Ghassan Hassan and Towfiq ‘Umran to four years each, with no right of appeal.
They were convicted on the basis of belonging to a “secret organization with the aim of changing the political, social and economic nature of the state” (Article 306 of the Penal Code), a reference to their purported involvement with the Party for Communist Action (PCA).
In court the four men denied that they were PCA members and in any case the PCA, which was founded in 1976 under another name changed to the PCA in 1980, advocating only non-violent methods for political change.
We therefore consider all four men to be prisoners of conscience, detained solely for their perceived or actual political affiliations.
We condemn this barbaric act. We are spreading as widely as possible in the labour movement of our country news of this barbaric act and we add our voices to the calls for their immediate and unconditional release.
Yours,
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Details of the Syrian Embassy in the UK are:
Syrian Embassy,
8 Belgrave Square
London - SW1X 8PH
Tel: 020 7245 9012
Fax: 020 7235 4621
Online messages can be sent at:
http://www.syremb.com/page6.html
Your nearest Syrian embassy can also be found at, where email details are available: