Fareed Al-Deeb, the lawyer for the entire world and all relevant organizations and bodies, hereby declares the following:
1- The Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Syria have filed a civil lawsuit against Mr. Abdulhaleem Khaddam, his wife, children, daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, and grandchildren, totaling 25 individuals, seeking to seize their assets.
The lawsuit is scheduled to be heard on Monday, April 24, 2006, before the Civil First Instance Court in Banias. The defendants were only notified of the lawsuit and the session through a brief announcement published in the Syrian newspaper Tishreen on March 20, 2006.
2- Mr. Abdulhaleem Khaddam assigned his lawyers, fellow Syrian professors and lawyers, to defend him and his family. However, due to pressures, they could not attend, and according to Mr. Abdulhaleem Khaddam, the lawsuit hearing was postponed to Monday, June 12, 2006.
3- In light of this, Mr. Abdulhaleem Khaddam offered me to defend him and his family in this case, and I accepted. The official and necessary powers of attorney were issued to me to represent them in court. Considering that Article 10 of the Syrian Advocacy Law allows an Arab lawyer registered in the roster of lawyers working in one of the Arab countries to plead before all Syrian Arab courts in specific cases, provided that the treatment is reciprocal and obtaining prior approval from the Syndicate or the head of the relevant branch, I wrote on June 6, 2006, to the President of the Egyptian Bar Association and the President of the Arab Lawyers’ Union to request permission. They promptly wrote a letter on the same day to Mr. Walid Al-Tash, the President of the Bar Association in Syria, carrying it to him in Damascus, but despite his awareness of the powers of attorney and obtaining copies, he did not issue the required permit. He imposed impractical conditions, including my personal appearance before him and the necessity of specifying a Syrian lawyer to attend the case with me, declaring that even if these conditions were met, issuing the permit was not guaranteed. My colleague returned from Damascus empty-handed.
4- Consequently, it becomes evident that the Syrian authorities have deprived Mr. Abdulhaleem Khaddam and his family of the right to defend themselves by proxy, contravening all international conventions, the Syrian constitution, and Syrian laws. This entails the nullification of all proceedings taken or to be taken against Mr. Abdulhaleem Khaddam and his family, as well as the annulment of any judgments issued against them in this lawsuit.
In light of this, I appeal to all relevant authorities worldwide to intervene to safeguard Mr. Abdulhaleem Khaddam’s right to defense and that of his family.
Fareed Al-Deeb Lawyer at the Court of Cassation
