Caabu urges cancellation of Ribal Assad Iftar

Ribal Assad, the son of Rifat Assad, the former Vice-President of Syria, will be hosting an Iftar event in Parliament in September. Caabu would like to join members of the Syrian community in expressing outrage that there will be an Iftar in Parliament on Wednesday 7 September with Iman, a group headed by Ribal Assad. The latter is accused by human rights groups worldwide of having ordered some of the most appalling crimes in modern Middle East history.  Ribal has consistently acted as an apologist for Rifat Assad even saying that Rifat Assad had been a democrat since the 1970s. It is widely believed that Ribal's father, Rifaat, tried to stage a coup against his brother Hafiz, who was president from 1971 to 2000. Hafiz expelled Rifaat from Syria and he has been obsessed with returning ever since. His sons, including Ribal, are his cheerleaders. But instead of throwing Rifaat out of Syria, Hafiz should have put him on trial. He is possibly the most hated of all Syrians, including those who are still part of the regime. Few in the region have more innocent blood on their hands. There are also concerns that he lives in the lap of luxury funded by his father’s enormous wealth estimated in billions, much of which Syrians and others believe actually belongs to the people of Syria . Rifat’s alleged past corrupt practices have been much reported. To Ribal, as he told Channel 4 News, Rifaat is a democrat and has been calling for democracy since the 1970s. Perhaps nobody heard him over the sound of tank fire. As a "democrat" he played a very curious role as head of the ruthless internal security services. Human Rights Watch reported that he was responsible for the massacre of more than 1,000 prisoners in the notorious Tadmur jail in 1980. But the city with which Rifaat will always be associated is Hama. In February 1982, Hama was besieged and shelled for 27 days, following an uprising in the city. Estimates of numbers killed vary from 10,000 to 40,000. The year before, in another massacre, 350 men and boys were simply rounded up and shot. Chris Doyle, Caabu’s Director, has sought to get the Member of Parliament Daniel Kawczynski MP to cancel the event. “It is deeply offensive that Ribal Assad is promoted at all by any British politician but not least at an important religious occasion. His father Rifat had no hesitation in violating the Eid al Adha by reportedly ordering massacres including the execution of 100 people on the first day of the Eid in Aleppo in 1980. Moreover, Ribal’s father is accused of perhaps one of the greatest sectarian massacres at Hama in 1982, when his largely Alawite special forces, shelled the largely Sunni city of Hama for days massacring over 10,000 Syrians. Ribal’s Iman group claim to promote inter-religious dialogue rings hollow given Ribal’s refusal to disassociate himself from his father’s actions,” Doyle said. "It is a crime that Rifaat enjoys his freedom here in London, while the people of Hama whose slaughter he is accused of masterminding, are fighting not just for freedom, but for their very lives. Ribal's hosts in parliament should ask whether he still works for his father, if he supports his goal of returning to Syria and whether he can prove that none of his activities or his various organisations have been funded by his father. If he cannot, it will be an insult to all those who are bravely laying down their lives in the struggle for freedom if Ribal is entertained in Westminster," Doyle said back in July.