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| Europe |
| French suppressing Syrian disident? |
| 2004-03-05 |
| From Front Page .... In 1978, as protests against Shah Phalavi swept across Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was living in a cozy house in the Parisian suburb of Neauphle-le-Chateau, engineering an Islamic revolution that would soon shake the world. Under the watchful eye of the French government, Khomeini met regularly with journalists and actively campaigned for the Shahâs overthrow. In fact, when Pahlavi finally fled Iran in 1979, Khomeini was provided with a chartered Air France flight to Tehran, where he presided over one of the worldâs most repressive regimes until his death in 1989. Franceâs generous hospitality toward Khomeini is interesting to note in light of the plight of Nizar Nayouf, a dissident Syrian journalist and human rights activist currently living, like Khomeini once did, as a political refugee in the suburbs of Paris. In 1991, Nayouf became editor-in-chief of Sawt al-Democratiyya (Voice of Democracy), a newspaper critical of Syriaâs Baâathist regime, and also co-founded the Committee for the Defense of Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights in Syria (CDF). These ventures earned Nayouf a nine-year stay in a Syrian prison, which he barely survived. But in 2001, thanks to urging from former French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, Nayouf was released and permitted to travel to France, where he received desperately needed medical attention. Following his recovery, Nayouf -- who was granted political asylum in France in 2002 -- resumed his pro-democracy activism with renewed vigor. Recently, he revealed three potentially explosive documents that he says connect Syria, France and Iraq to episodes involving hidden Iraqi WMDs and election bribery. The documents, which Nayouf acquired from sources in the Middle East, have captured the attention of media outlets in the U.S. and abroad. They have also drawn the ire of the DST (French Federal Intelligence Agency), which has attempted to silence Nayouf by using tactics reminiscent of those employed by his former Syrian captors. According to Nayouf, on January 30, he was brought in for questioning by DST officials, who interviewed him for several hours before releasing him. At the end of the interview, a French officer identified to Nayouf only as âColonel Heprarbâ informed him that he was to refrain from making any further public announcements surrounding the deposed Iraqi regimeâs relations with Syria and Lebanon. Nayouf was also told that his public declarations have caused diplomatic embarrassment to the French government, not only in its relations with Syria but also with other countries that Heprarb refused to mention. While Nayouf was left shaken by this experience, his dealings with the DST would soon take an even more troubling turn. Nayouf contends that following the interview with the DST he returned home to the Parisian suburb of Malakhof only to find that his apartment had been broken into and three CD-ROMs containing sensitive documents had been stolen. A map showing possible locations of Iraqi WMDs in Syria was purportedly among the documents taken, as well as information regarding two billion dollars that had been deposited by Saddam Hussein into a number of Syrian and Lebanese banks prior to the fall of his regime. The CDs also allegedly contained information describing the establishment of a fund for the reelection of Jacques Chirac by the deposed Iraqi regime via the office of Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri, not to mention a list of dissidents and political organizations in Syria that received funds from the intelligence apparatus stationed in the Iraqi Embassy in Paris. Colonel Heprarb, for his part, has categorically denied any DST involvement in the burglary. But clearly, as stated by Julien Dumond in Leparisian on February 5, the âburglaryâ seemed suspiciously like an intelligence-gathering mission. Reached by phone to comment on the DSTâs conduct regarding Nayouf, Heprarb quickly became agitated: âThis affair is finishedâŠbecause this is a very difficult issue to answer aboutâŠif you will call again I will never answerâŠI ask that you must not call here another time.â At that point, Heprarb ended the conversation. Apparently, however, the matter was not finished. On February 3, the DST invited Nayouf to its offices for four more hours of questioning. Incredibly, Nayouf says that during this session DST officials asked for the password to his personal computer so that they could access his files directly (one wonders if Heprarb will deny DST involvement on that count as well). Nayouf maintains he did not provide the password. Nayoufâs recent troubles with the DST coincide with the French governmentâs repeated refusal to provide him with the political refugee passport he was legally granted in 2002 (and is due to him by French law). This action has prevented Nayouf from traveling abroad and continuing his work with the Syrian Democratic Coalition, a fledgling pro-democracy group led by the Syrian-born Farid Ghadry. On February 5, French Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous stated that, âno measures have been madeâ by the French government to limit Nayoufâs movements. Ladsous also claimed that Nayoufâs refusal to surrender his Syrian passport (a passport that, ironically, has not been in Nayoufâs possession for over a year) has caused the bureaucratic delay in issuing his travel documents. However, according to French law, a refugee does not need such a passport to begin with; therefore, no legal basis exists for denying Nayouf valid travel documentation. So Nayouf remains under gag order in Paris, unsure if, or when, he will be extradited to Syria, where opponents of the Baâath Party invariably turn up dead or in prison. âNayouf represents the conscience of every Syrian who has suffered under the Baâathist rule,â says Ghadry. âI believe he deserves the protection of the U.S. and the dignity accorded to people who have fought for human rights all their lives.â For now, Nayouf can only wish for the same treatment the French government so graciously extended to Ayatollah Khomeini years ago |
| Posted by:hmmmmm |
| #4 That was my thought when the original "3 WMD sites" story broke ... it was a little too convenient. A bit like Chalabi using the US to bring down Saddam. |
| Posted by: rkb 2004-3-5 6:38:42 PM |
| #3 He should have scurried to our embassy a lot sooner and handed over the discs. |
| Posted by: Anonymous2u 2004-3-5 5:23:05 PM |
| #2 This is the first part of the story. We need verification. This whole affair could be tremendously explosive if true. Proof that the French govt actively helped Sammy and Syria in their dirty affairs would be a bombshell! I cannot believe that he does not have backup info to his computer and CD roms somewhere else. He is a fool if he does not. This stuff is just too hot to leave in his apartment. I want to believe this story, but I am skeptical until we see some more corroberation. Not disbelieving, just skeptical. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-3-5 5:06:55 PM |
| #1 He should talk to a Congrsman in the US, arrange for assylum and then drive to another EU country friendly to the US for transport. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-3-5 4:07:10 PM |