Syria Amsterdam Dean and L4L attend trial Al Hassani
On 4 May 2010 the President of the Amsterdam Bar Associaton Germ Kemper and L4L board member Joost Italianer attended the trial against Syrian lawyer and human rights activist Muhanad al-Hassani in Damascus. He was arrested in July 2009 and has been held under difficult circumstances ever since. What’s more, the Bar Association has disbarred him for life. The appeal against the disbarment is still pending.
In Damascus, Kemper and Italianer have urgently requested the local and national Bar Association to support Al-Hassani, instead of taking disciplinary action against him. In conversations with the presiding judge and the attorney-general responsible for supervising the prisons they expressed their concern about Al-Hassani’s not having access to his lawyers without an observer listening in.