Damascus is relying on the Assad-era Decree 66 to detain activists like Hassan Akkad, sources told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
Human rights activist and award-winning documentarian Akkad was arrested in Damascus on Wednesday over social media posts in which he called on wealthy businessmen to fulfill financial pledges made to help rebuild Syria, according to associates of Akkad and Arab media reports.
The legislation penalizes slander, defamation, and publishing content deemed a "crime against the Constitution," though critics claim it has often been used to silence journalists and activists who criticize the authorities.
“This is a case that explains to us how the new authority uses Assad regime laws to prosecute opponents who don’t agree with them under Decree 66,” an expert who asked to remain anonymous said. “There should be a judicial reform because we all know these kinds of laws were used as a tool to prosecute people from the regime…The Assad regime only wanted one narrative to be heard.”
Akkad, the founder of the ‘Give Us the Money That You Owe!’ campaign, was arrested after a complaint was filed by Syrian journalist and presenter Mousa al-Omar, Al Jazeera reported.
“I am sorry for what happened to Hassan as a result of his mistakes; I followed the legal path under the cybercrime law… Everything I pledged, amounting to $700,000 in projects and cash, was paid in the donations,” al-Omar told the Qatar-owned media site, adding that he instructed his lawyers to drop the legal complaint.
Earlier this month, Akkad alluded to issues that were ‘bigger than myself and Mousa al-Omar” on his Instagram account, promising to share more information when it became safe for him to do so.
Public Prosecutor Judge Hossam Khattab told Al Jazeera that the case against Akkad was dropped, but the Qatari media site reported the activist remained in detention.
Akkad is facing multiple legal cases
Witnesses claimed that plainclothes officers arrested him at a cafe in the capital while he was meeting with several journalists. Celine Kasem, one of the activists at the meeting, claimed the officers failed to provide any identification, an arrest warrant, or any documentation proving they could legally detain Akkad.
“Hassan was taken into custody. Today, his lawyers are with him as he faces multiple legal cases. The fact that we are still operating under the same legal framework inherited from the Assad regime is deeply disappointing,” she stated online. “It is unfair to the sacrifices made during our revolution & to the people who suffered under these laws & regulations. We all know that drafting a new constitution & reforming an entire legal system takes time. But until then, the law should not be abused.”
Akkad, who also enjoys British citizenship, was previously imprisoned by Assad's regime for documenting anti-government protests. He fled Syria in 2015 after being physically assaulted by members of the regime, and went on to share his story in the Bafta-winning BBC documentary Exodus: Our Journey to Europe. He then went on to co-direct the Netflix documentary Convergence: Courage in a Crisis.
Yasser Abbas, the spokesperson for the Association for the Repeal of Decree 66, and Engineer Ibrahim Sheikh Al-Shabab, representative of the Mezzeh People’s Committees, were both also detained in early June under Decree 66, Alahmad shared. Authorities alleged the men carried out acts of “systematic incitement,” “defamation,” “spreading false news via the internet and satellite channels,” “undermining the reputation and prestige of a public administration,” and “inciting riots” over their criticism of the decree.
STJ alleged that the arrests were a message to those considering objecting to public policies, criticizing the governorate's approach, or organizing to demand their rights, that they could be detained based on “vague legal texts.”