Syrian dissident receives rare acquittal

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - A Syrian court issued on Wednesday a rare acquittal in a political case, finding dissident Walid al-Bunni not guilty of "weakening the morale of the nation."
Bunni is already serving a 2-1/2 year jail term for political crimes since he took part in a 2007 meeting that tried to revive a movement for democracy in Syria.
He was indicted while in jail for having conversations with an imamate that constituted in the view of the attorney general "false statements that weaken national morale."
"In the name of the people of Syria the court rules against the prosecution and announces defendant Walid al-Bunni not guilty," said Brigadier General Mohammad Abu Zaid, the military court judge.
Bunni, whose mother died several weeks ago, did not react.
The session was attended by diplomats of Western states including France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark and the United States, which has improved its ties with Damascus in recent months.
Mohannad al-Hassani, Bunni's lawyer, said the judge acquitted his client for lack of evidence after allowing the defense to present nine witnesses compared to one for the prosecution.
Hassani said another court jailed last month Kurdish politician Mishaal al-Tammo for 3-1/2 years for weakening national morale without allowing Tammo's lawyers to present a defense memo.
Kamal al-Labwani, another dissident was sentenced last year to 2-1/2 years in prison on top of a 12-year term he was already serving on weakening national morale charges Hassani said were trumped up.
SYSTEM INTACT
"I wish all the courts on Syria would follow the lead of this tribunal, which did its duty and fairly applied the law," Hassani said.
Bunni, a 46- year physician, served a prison term from 2001 to 2006 for his role in what became known as the Damascus Spring, a brief period of openness following president Bashar al-Assad's succession of his late father, Hafez al-Assad, in 2000.
The Damascus Spring was crushed and Bashar kept intact the political system he inherited, including emergency law and the monopoly of the Baath party on power, but took several steps to liberalize the economy after decades of heavy nationalization.
Several of the Damascus Spring leaders, including Bunni and Riad Seif, who has prostate cancer, were imprisoned again in recent years.
Appeals by Western leaders and politicians, such as French President Nicolas Sarkozy and U.S. Senator John Kerry, to Bashar to release them have failed. Continued...
Source: Reuters