Communist Labour Party (Syria)

Communist Labour Party
حزب العمل الشيوعي
LeaderFateh Jamous
Founded1976 (1976)
IdeologyCommunism
Marxism–Leninism
National affiliationNational Coordination Committee for Democratic Change
National Democratic Rally
Marxist Left Gathering
People's Assembly of Syria
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The Communist labor Party (Arabic: حزب العمل الشيوعي Hizb Al-'Amal Al-Shuyu'iy) is a Syrian communist party active in the 1980s and early 1990s. The party, a Marxist–Leninist splinter group from the Syrian Communist Party,[1] was first formed in August 1976 as the "League for Communist Action," and was renamed to "Syrian communist Action Party" on 6 August 1981.[2][dead link] The party, banned by the government of Syria since its establishment, was victim to a number of crackdowns, where 200 of its members were arrested in 1986 alone.[1] 21 members were sentenced by the Supreme State Security Court for "membership in a secret organization created to change the economic or social structure of the state".[3] Amnesty International protested on behalf of the prisoners.[4] The party continued to secretly distribute its publications–ar-Raya al-Hamra'a ("The Red Banner"), ash-Shyu'i ("The Communist"), al-Brulitari ("The Proletarian")–until 1991. On 6 August 2003, the party announced its return to the political scene in a statement, followed by a new publication called al-An ("Now").[2]

The party is led by Fateh Jamous, who was imprisoned between 1982 and 2000. He was again arrested in 2006.[5]

The party worked with a Palestinian dissident group, called the Palestinian Popular Committees, in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus. The group was founded in 1983. The Palestinian Popular Committees were disbanded in 1985, as a campaign of arrests was launched against the Syrian party.[6]

One of the sentenced activists of the party, Tuhama Mahmoud Ma'rouf, received a suspended sentence in 1995, only to be rearrested and ordered to begin serving her sentence in 2010 for unknown reasons.[7] In February 2011, she began a hunger strike protesting the conditions of her detainment at Adra prison. She was released on 20 June of that year in a mass presidential amnesty for political dissidents.[8]

Since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War, the party has aligned itself with the Syrian Opposition, operating within its territory and political system.

In early 2018, the party condemned the Turkish military operation in Afrin.[9]

  1. ^ a b Rabinovitch, Itamar; Shaked, Haim (1988). Middle East Contemporary Survey 1986. The Moshe Dayan Center. pp. 607–608. ISBN 978-0-8133-0764-0.
  2. ^ a b "حزب العمل الشيوعي : Syrian Parties". syrianparties.info/ (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  3. ^ "Far From Justice: Syria's Supreme State Security Court" (PDF). Human Rights Watch. February 2009. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  4. ^ "Further information on UA 292/93 (MDE 24/07/93, 26 August 1993) Fear of torture/legal concern". Amnesty International. 2 December 1993. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  5. ^ تأجيل محاكمة فاتح جاموس وتحديد جلسة استجواب سرية للمعارض السوري فائق المير أسعد أمام محكمة الجنايات الأولى في دمشق (in Arabic). Arraee.com. 21 July 2007. Archived from the original on August 7, 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  6. ^ Ali Badwan (12 March 2006). حركة فتح المجلس الثوري تتخذ الاغتيالات وسيلة لترجمة مواقفها السياسية (in Arabic). www.albayan.ae. Archived from the original on November 22, 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  7. ^ "Urgent Action: Female Political Prisoner on Hunger Strike". Amnesty International. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  8. ^ "Case Information". Committee on Human Rights of the US National Academy of Sciences. 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  9. ^ "Communist Labour Party in Syria condemn Turkish occupation invasion on Afrin". Hawar News Agency. 28 January 2018. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.