Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
n former politician and writer. He was a member of the Regional Command of the
Baath Party
The Arab Socialist Baʿath Party ( ar, حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي ' ) was a political party founded in Syria by Mishel ʿAflaq, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Bītār, and associates of Zaki al-ʾArsūzī. The party espoused B ...
in Syria and Minister of Industry in the government of
Salah Jadid
Salah Jadid (1926 – 19 August 1993, ar, صلاح جديد, Ṣalāḥ Jadīd) was a Syrian general, a leader of the left-wing of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in Syria, and the country's ''de facto'' leader from 1966 until 1970, when h ...
. Following a successful coup d'etat against Jadid's leadership in 1970, Habash was imprisoned along with others perceived to be Jadid loyalists. One of the world's longest-held
political prisoner
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention.
There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...
s, he was released in 1993. He has since become a writer and public analyst.
Golan Heights
The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...
, Habash was a member of the Regional Command for the Ba'ath Party between August 1965 and November 1970. Habash also served as the Minister of Front Line Villages Affairs and the Minister of Industry in the government of
Salah Jadid
Salah Jadid (1926 – 19 August 1993, ar, صلاح جديد, Ṣalāḥ Jadīd) was a Syrian general, a leader of the left-wing of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in Syria, and the country's ''de facto'' leader from 1966 until 1970, when h ...
.
When the Ba'ath Party split, Habash belonged to the faction that remained loyal to the National Command based in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
.
Imprisonment
When followers of then-Defense Minister
Hafez al-Assad
Hafez al-Assad ', , (, 6 October 1930 – 10 June 2000) was a Syrian statesman and military officer who served as President of Syria from taking power in 1971 until his death in 2000. He was also Prime Minister of Syria from 1970 to 1 ...
launched a
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
against Jadid's leadership of the government in 1970, Jadid and his loyalists (among whose number Habash was counted), known as the "February 23 Movement", were imprisoned in November and December of that year in al-Mezze military prison in
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
.
Over the course of his 23-year detention, Habash was
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
d by some of his former party colleagues, including
Naji Jamil
Naji (also transliterated as Nagy in Egyptian Arabic and Naci ( Turkish), ar, ناجي, ) is an Arabic male given name, which is derived from the Arabic verb ''to survive''. It is also a surname.
Given name
* Najee Harris (born March 9, 1998), ...
Ali Duba
Ali Issa Ibrahim Duba ( ar, علي عيسى ابراهيم دوبا, born 1933), also known as ''Ali Douba'', is a former head of the Syrian military intelligence and was a close adviser to the Syrian president Hafez al-Assad. The military inte ...
. He was released by order of President Hafez al-Assad in 1993.
Writings and public analyses
Habash published more than 50 articles, covering some 300 pages, that detailed his experiences as a political prisoner, and covered part of the history of the Ba'ath movement in Syria prior to his imprisonment in ''Kulluna Shuraka' fi al-Watan'', and other Arabic-language media, between 2002 and 2009. Among these articles were: ''Harakat 23 Shubat… al-Dawa'i wa al-Asbab'' ("The 23 February Movement, its Motives and Reasons"), ''Muhawalat 'Usyan al-Ra'id Salim Hatum fi al-Suwayda' Yawm 8 Aylul 1966'' ("The Revolt Attempt of Major Salim Hatum in al-Suwayda' on 8 September 1966"), and ''Harb Huzayran: al-Muqaddimat wa al-Waqa'i'' ("The June War: its Preludes and Facts").
In 2002, Habash was summoned for questioning by Syrian
intelligence agent
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...
s after publishing an article calling for the strengthening of