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88
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1991
354-4560
THE DIASPORA I
Syrian Jewry
Continued from preceding page
and can expect to remain in
prison for at least two more
years.
At the beginning of May, six
Syrian Jews — two couples, a
2-year-old infant and a
3-month-old baby — were ap-
prehended by the Mukhaba-
rat at the Turkish border.
They were held incommu-
nicado for three weeks,
after which the women (who
had been visibly beaten) and
the babies were released. Ex-
cept for one visit from their
wives on June 10, there has
been no contact with Subhe
Kastika, 36, and his 30-year-
old brother, Sa'id.
The most pressing case is
that of the Swed brothers, Eli
and Selim, who were arrested
toward the end of 1987 after
having left Syria without per-
mission to visittheir sister in
Israel (whom they had not
seen in 30 years). They were
held incommunicado for
almost two years, during
which period the Syrian
government refused to release
any information as to their
whereabouts or even whether
they were dead or alive. Final-
ly, in June 1989, the
authorities acknowledged
that the Sweds were alive, but
another three months had to
pass before any family
members were allowed to
visit them.
The Sweds have been
brutally tortured and are in
ill health. During the two-
and-a-half years they were
kept in dank underground
cells (until a visiting U.S. con-
gressional group induced
Assad to bring them up from
the dungeons), they both con-
tracted tuberculosis.
Due process has been
denied them and only after
having been imprisoned and
tortured for three years were
they formally charged. The
sentencing was held in secret;
Eli Swed, in his 30s, and
Selim Swed, in his 50s and a
father of seven, now face an
additional six-and-a-half
years in prison. Despite their
debilitated state, they began
a hunger strike to protest the
harsh sentence.
Dr. Kahn noted that while
the Australian and Canadian
governments have appealed
to Mr. Assad for clemency on
the Sweds' behalf, Washing-
ton has not repsonded to local
pleas to do likewise.
There are many divided
families in Syria, lists of
which have been presented on
several occasions to Syrian
government officials by
members of Congress and the
U.S. ambassador to
Damascus, Edward Djerejian.
For example, there are two
Jewish children, ages 8 and
12, whose entire family is in
the United States. The
children's grandmother, who
had been caring for them,
recently died and the children
are now completely alone.
Nonetheless, they are denied
permission to leave Syria.
Syrian Jewry's incarcera-
tion has been an issue for
years, continued Dr. Kahn,
but it has never received the
prominence it deserves, due
partly to the attention paid to
the situations of Soviet and
Ethiopian Jews.
Two years ago, American
Jews of Syrian descent (of
whom there are in excess of
85,000, with some 30,000 con-
centrated in Brooklyn, N.Y.)
decided that they had to
make their appeals for their
brethren trapped in Syria
more vocal, and founded the
Council for the Rescue of
Syrian Jews. Dr. Kahn assum-
ed the executive leadership of
the council nine months ago.
The rescue
council's task is to
sensitize - the
president, his
administration and
the Congress to
the issue of Syrian
Jewry.
(In Israel, during the past
several years, activists have
also come to the conclusion
that "quiet diplomacy" hasn't
been effective. Typically,' Yosef
Kalash, chairperson of the
Organization of Syrian Olim,
stated at a recent news con-
ference in Jerusalem: "We
have decided to be silent no
longer and make our voice
heard so the entire world will
know the shocking story of
the Jews of Syria." He also
asserted that the newly ap-
pointed official in charge of
the Jews, Amid Isa el-Asad,
an army general, was even
more brutal than any of his
predecessors, and revealed
that one of the main syna-
gogues in Damascus' Jewish
quarter was recently de-
stroyed by the authorities.)
The rescue council's task,
explained Dr. Kahn, is to sen-
sitize the president, his ad-
ministration and the Con-
gress to the issue of Syrian
Jewry. There have been some
results, he said — President
Bush has discussed the topic
in Geneva and Secretary of
State Baker has raised the
issue with Mr. Assad. Even
the unfortunate mission by
U.S. Sen. Robert Dole, R-Kan.,
to Iraq did meet with Mr.
Assad en route, he added, and
"(U.S. Sen. Howard) Metzen-
baum almost got himself
thrown out of Mr. Assad's of-