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Syria's television confessions fail to convince many By Oliver Holmes Posted 2012/05/16 at 10:09 am EDT BEIRUT, May 16, 2012 (Reuters) — Syria's state media is fighting hard to cast the country's unrestas an Islamist terrorist conspiracy rather than a popular uprisingagainst the dynastic rule of President Bashar al-Assad. State television airs interviews with men confessing to acts ofviolence, sullying the image of Assad's opponents. But theinterviews are mocked by many Syrians and an ex-producer says thatmany confessions are bogus. Although an ardent supporter of Assad, the former employee said sheis distressed by what she describes as a campaign of misinformationwaged by the official "Suriya" television channel. "I used to arrive at work and one of the editors would tell us thatwe have a person to confess," she told Reuters, speaking oncondition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from her formeremployer. "Some of the men are just normal people who were arrested inanti-government demonstrations and others were thieves andcriminals who were nearing the end of their sentence," said theproducer, in her late twenties. "They were told they will be setfree if they confess to the made-up crimes." One confession was that of Qusai Shaqfeh from Hama, a city that hasseen fighting between rebels and government troops in recent monthsand has a long history of dissent against the Assads - Bashar'slate father Hafez sent troops to crush an uprising there in 1982,killing thousands. Shaqfeh, 29, said in the aired program that rebels killed membersof the security forces and threw them off a bridge. He also said hecontacted journalists working for foreign media and sent themfootage of faked peaceful demonstrations to use as propagandaagainst Assad. Another confession gained particular fame in Syria when theconfessor, Ghassin Selawaya from the coastal city of Lattakia,appeared to be playing to the demands of the producer. "Er...we burned buses...er...we resisted security patrols, it wasall rioting," he muttered, sitting in a T-shirt surrounded by ashotgun and pistols, weapons the presenter said police found onhim. Opposition activists said that Selawaya's family said he was infact arrested before the uprising for unrelated crimes. The Syriangovernment restricts media access, making it hard to verifyreports. REPORTS OF TORTURE For more than a year, peaceful protesters demanding Assad'soverthrow have been arrested, tortured and killed, human rightsgroups say. But dissidents have increasingly resorted to armedambushes and bomb attacks on elements of state security, and arecent Human Rights Watch report accused the armed opposition ofkidnappings, torture and executions. State media has never reported on government abuses but aired"terrorist confessions" early last year when activists postedvideos of Assad's troops firing on demonstrations and there waslittle evidence of an armed uprising. For many Syrians, pro- and anti-Assad, the confessions are arunning joke. "I do not think that Syrian television lies in all its stories, butthe information in these confessions is really conflicting andconfusing," said Rami, 33, a government worker who, like otherordinary Syrians quoted in this article, was interviewed via Skypefrom Damascus and asked to be identified by his first name only,for security reasons. Reem, a 32-year-old journalist, said she never trusted state media,seeing it as a mouthpiece of Assad's inner circle, but the TVconfessions were a new low. "If they were actually criminals, they should be sent to courts,not to a TV studio," she said. "The confessions can be pretty funny," the producer said. "They areclearly illogical." "Our editors would ask us to think up stories that will bebelievable. For example, if we had a man who was from a certaincity, we would tell him to talk about specific streets or confessto a crime committed recently in that city," she said. "There were some confessors who seem to have signs of torture but Idid not ask too many questions," she said. DRAMATIC MUSIC In late April, pro-government news channel "Addounia" aired what itsaid was a confession by "terrorist" Ali Othman, who activists saywas arrested in March after he helped foreign journalists escapefrom the besieged city of Homs. The interview, which was over an hour long, was publicized a fewdays beforehand. In the teaser, the Addounia interviewer walks through darkcorridors as tense music plays. He creaks open a metal-barred doorand walks inside a prison cell, where Ali Othman sits with his headin his hands. Othman rises and the next shot shows him sitting opposite thepresenter, both spotlighted in a dark room. "Stay tuned… Inside Baba Amr," words on the screen read,referring to the district in Homs that was heavily shelled by theSyrian government because it was supposedly swarming with "armedterrorists." In the interview, Othman said that people attending anti-Assadprotests pretended to be peaceful but had hidden guns under theirjackets to attack security members. He also described running a media centre in Baba Amr, smugglingforeign journalists in and out of the country and organizingdissident protesters. Fellow activists said the interview was conducted under duress andBritain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement justafter Othman was arrested that there were reports that he had beentortured. Suriya's ex-producer said that many who confessed appeared afraid. "I sometimes used to wonder why Suriya wanted people to make theseconfessions," she said. "My managing editor once told us that the goal is to show peoplethat the government is in control and also so that parents see whathappens if they let their children oppose the government." Aisha, a 42-year-old housewife who comes from the same minorityAlawite sect as President Assad, said that although she does nottrust the confessions, she knows they have a use. "I watch the confessions in front of my children and try toconvince them that they are real because I want them to be scaredof what will happen if they look for trouble," she said. (Additional reporting by Erika Solomon; Editing by SonyaHepinstall). The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Laser Tattoo Removal Machine Manufacturer , China E-light IPL RF, and more. For more , please visit IPL Hair Removal Machines today!
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