Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-09-Speech-4-222"
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"en.20100909.16.4-222"2
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"Madam President, I add my voice to those of all my fellow Members who have demanded here that Mr Al-Maleh be released immediately.
As has been said, he is an elderly gentleman. He is accused of crime, but under articles of the criminal code that seem to us to be greatly exaggerated. After him, above all, there are other human rights defenders, other lawyers and other doctors whom we know well, as they have come to the European Parliament and have been subsequently imprisoned. They are prisoners of conscience, and we cannot accept that from Syria.
As it is always important to mention names, I would like to mention the names of Mr al-Hassani and Mr al-Abdallah, as well as Mr Labouani, who visited us here. They are almost all friends.
I would like to say very strongly that there are many things in Syria that I would like to see shared elsewhere. There is nothing outrageous in what I am saying. There is real freedom of conscience and religion. A real effort is being made in education and health. A real effort is being made to welcome Iraqi and Palestinian refugees. It is a country with potential, not least on the international stage, that we cannot ignore.
I would like to say to President Bashar al-Assad, whom I know well, ‘President, you do not need these prisoners of conscience to be strong in your country and to figure on the international stage. You can afford the luxury of defending human rights as well.’
We should not, in my view, just remember the face of systematic repression when we think of Syria. It does exist, ladies and gentlemen, and we cannot deny it. There is more to Syria than that, however, and that is why we value this association agreement so much, Commissioner. We are aware that Syria has rejected it for the time being. Please keep us informed about how the negotiations progress. We – many of us, at least – would like Syria to be able to play the positive role that it would be capable of playing on the international stage and in the Middle East peace process."@en1
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