On Thursday 21 October 2010, the Amsterdam Dean’s Award was presented to Muhanad al-Hassani. This Syrian human rights lawyer was sentenced to three years in prison by a court in Damascus on 23 June 2010 convicting him of conveying information that weakens national sentiment and conveying false news about Syria abroad. He was also disbarred for life by the local Section of the Bar Association. Al-Hassani was chairman of a Syrian human rights organization and prior to his arrest in July 2009, he had acted in defense of human rights activists. He observed and reported on trials at the Supreme State Security Court.
The actions taken against him are textbook examples of violations of human rights. His freedom of speech, freedom of association and freedom of assembly, in addition to the freedom to practice his profession, have been unacceptability restricted. The victim, the lawyer Muhanad al-Hassani, was very well aware of the personal risks of his work, but did not allow these to discourage him.
Iyas Maleh, the son of the 80-year old Syrian lawyer, Haitham al-Maleh (who was Al-Hassani’s counsel) and who is also serving a prison sentence, accepted the award on behalf of Muhanad al-Hassani.
You can see a video summary of the ceremony here. You can also read the speech that Amsterdam Dean Germ Kemper held. Al-Hassani himself also reacted on the presentation of the award, as you can read here. On request of the Amsterdam and Paris Bar Association the International Bar Association (IBA) decided to ask a Credentials Committee to investigate if the Syrian Bar Association can be suspended or dropped from membership of the IBA.
Here you can see a short movie about Al-Hassani (made by True Heroes Films) that was shown during the ceremony.
Each year the Amsterdam Bar Association presents the Dean’s Prize to a lawyer for their remarkable contribution to the legal profession in Amsterdam or the rule of law in general.
