Assad Regime Indicts Actress for “Financing Terrorism”

The Assad regime sentenced the Syrian actress Samar Kawkash for five years in prison on charges of financing terrorism. She has been detained in the 215th security branch in Damascus since late 2013. Kawkash is the daughter of the prominent Syrian director Aladdin Kawkash and her mother is the late actress Malak Sukkar. The Assad regime has arrested several other Syrian dissident artists for endorsing the demands of the Syrian people, including Leila Awad, Adnan Al-Ziraa’i, Zaki Kordillo, and his son Mahyar Kordillo. Last week, security forces commandeered the house of the dissident actress Mai Skaf in Jaramana near Damascus for her role in the anti-regime activities. Before being forced to leave Syria, Skaf took part in the anti-regime demonstrations and sit-ins and declared her opposition to the Assad regime and its crackdown on the peaceful movement. As a result, Assad’s security apparatuses referred her to the “counter terrorism court” on charges of contacting “hostile TV channels and broadcasting false news.” Last month, the Information Minister in the government of the Assad regime issued a decree to dismiss 101 workers at the General Organization for Radio and Television for advocating the demands of the Syrian people. The dismissed staffers include reporters, journalists, editors, directors, and photographers. The Ministry also circulated the names of the dismissed workers on all the regime’s institutions and forbade communication with them under pain of punishment. The Syrian Coalition decried earlier the Syrian Artists Association’s decision to dismiss 30 pro-revolution members, describing the decision as null and void and reflects the tyrannical mentality of those behind it. The dismissed members include prominent actors such as Abdul Hakim Kotaivan, Mazen Al-Natour, Jalal-al-Tawil, Maxim Khalil, Jamal Suleiman and the writer Samir Radwan. “The side that made this unfair decision is the same side that has been raining rockets and barrel bombs on Syrians and shedding their blood. The defiant stance taken by these artists reaffirms our unshakeable confidence in the Syrian people, including the artists who have sided with the Syrian people and their revolution for freedom and justice,” the statement said. “The victory of the revolution requires combining of all our efforts, everyone according to his field and specialty to serve the revolution and to clarify the legitimate demands of the Syrian people at all levels.” (Source: Syrian Coalition + Al Arabiya)