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Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR from herein) is a UK-based group opposed to the rule of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, purporting to be a human rights organisation.

The organisation has extensive contacts throughout Syria, and based on these SOHR often informs major news outlets of goings-on in the country's uprising in 2011, including the deaths of protesters, as well as defected and loyalist soldiers. However there is considerable uncertainty about who runs the organisation and the veracity of its reports in the mainstream media due to the Abdulrahman issue.

Purpose

According to their website, the group has the following aims : "The Syrian Human Rights Information Link (SHRIL) is primarily interested in gathering and distributing information about human rights violations in Syria. Consolidating information from various sources such as news reports, other groups and directly affected victims of human rights abuses, the objective is to have a single comprehensive database which can act as a focal point for research and activism. The objective is to make it easier for interested parties, both individuals and human rights groups, both in Syria and abroad, to find the relevant facts, to assist their research and to act as an informative conduit through a common knowledge base. "

The Abdulrahman Issue

Initial reports claimed that SOHR was run out of a two-bedroom terraced home in Coventry by one man alone who would otherwise run a clothes shop; this gentleman's name was said to be Rami Abdulrahman (or Rami Abdul Rahman, or Rami Abdelrahman). It is claimed now that he is in fact called Osama Ali Suleiman and he merely used the name Rami Abdulrahman, a pen-name claimed to have been initially used by all "SOHR members". However, there are some inconsistencies in the story, as the initial Reuters report claimed that Suleiman ran a clothes shop and did not mention that he needs an interpreter, whereas a SOHR site claims that Suleiman is a satellite dish installation technician and downplays his English language skills to the extent that it claims he cannot communicate with the English-language media. Furthermore, whereas the SOHR claims that the alias Rami Abdulrahman was abandoned by all "members" by 15 March 2011, Suleiman remained a volunteer activist using the name Rami Abdulrahman until August 2011. It is claimed that at this point he was able to wrest control of the then SOHR website (www.syriahr.net) by changing all the passwords and that he proceeded to make himself the chairman of SOHR. The SOHR site goes on to claim that the "rest of the organisation" then ignored Abdulrahman/Suleiman, but that he was able to continue to garner support from friends, boosting his claims of chairmanship of the SOHR. It is notable that Suleiman was seen months after his alleged ostracisation from the SOHR and as recently as 21 November 2011 in London, at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office following a meeting with William Hague, the UK Foreign Secretary. This highlights the uncertainty that exists over who is controlling SOHR. The website syriahr.org has launched a smear campaign against Suleiman, claiming he only had a "very modest level of education", condemning his "lack of professionalism" and even alleging that he is a member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party.

Abdulrahman, meanwhile, says the new site syriahr.org is run by Mousab Azzawi, who used to translate for the SOHR but was fired after falsely claiming to be an official spokesman for the organisation and calling for foreign intervention in Syria.

The Abdulrahman issue has notable logical and political consequences. There cannot be two official SOHRs, if they both decry each other as illegitimate then at least one cannot be genuine. Furthermore if Suleiman has meetings with high-ranking UK government officials, this negates the legitimacy of the so-called official SOHR (at syriahr.org). It also leads to great uncertainty about which of the two organisations media are quoting when they name "the SOHR" as their source. Finally, the motives of the UK government are called into question if Suleiman's organisation is truly a "one-man show" or if he is a PKK activist.

References

  1. "The Syrian observatory for human rights Live Blog". Al-Jazeera.
  2. "Syrian activists call general strike as fears for Homs grow". Daily Telegraph. 11 Dec 2011. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
  3. http://www.shril-sy.info/enshril/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=1
  4. "Coventry - an unlikely home to prominent Syria activist". Reuters. 8 December 2011.
  5. "Important Letter from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights about Rami Abdul Rahman".
  6. "Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, leaves the Foreign and Commonwealth Office after meeting Britain's Foreign Secretary, William Hague, in central London November 21, 2011".
  7. "Deaths in Syria: Counting them (politically) correctly". Russia Today. 9 February 2012. Retrieved 16 February 2012.

External links

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