Riad Seif ( ar, رياض سيف; born 25 November 1946) is a Syrian political dissident and prominent businessman who founded and led the Forum for National Dialogue. Seif was elected to the
Parliament of Syria
The People's Assembly ( ar, مَجْلِس الشَّعْب, ) is Syria's legislative authority. It has 250 members elected for a four-year term in 15 multi-seat constituencies. There are two main political fronts; the National Progressive Fron ...
in 1994 as an independent and again in 1998. For several years he owned an
Adidas
Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufacture ...
franchise 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 =
, ...
.Wright, ''Dreams and Shadows'', 2008, p. 218
Career
According to Seif, his career in business started with "a workshop for manufacturing shirts in 1963." In 1993, he began "building the New Adidas Company in 1993 ... the first of its kind in Syria", after acquiring a franchise for Syria from the
Adidas
Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufacture ...
Corporation.
Following the death of Syrian leader
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 197 ...
in June 2000, Seif assembled "leading yrianintellectuals and independent voices" to discuss "how to open up Syria's ... political system." The group – which met every Wednesday evening, in Seif's living room and was later dubbed the Forum for National Dialogue – "debated human rights, pluralism, press and academic freedoms, and how to build a civil society," and was the first of several forums that "marked the onset" of the
Damascus Spring
The Damascus Spring ( ar, ربيع دمشق, ) was a period of intense political and social debate in Syria which started after the death of President Hafiz al-Asad in June 2000 and continued to some degree until autumn 2001, when most of the act ...
.Wright, ''Dreams and Shadows'', 2008, p.224 In January 2001, Seif announced his intention to create a new political party to compete with the ruling
Ba'th 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 ...
. Around this time he also questioned the monopoly on the new
cellular telephone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while ...
system granted to the family of Hafez al Assad's wife
Anisa Makhlouf
Anisa (or Aniseh) Makhlouf ( ar, أَنِيسَةُ مَخْلُوفٍ, ʾAnīsah Maḵlūf, 5 November 1930 – 6 February 2016)Wright, ''Dreams and Shadows'', 2008, p.227 After a major meeting of the Forum for National Dialogue on 5 September 2001 which several hundred people attended, Seif was arrested. Charged with "defying the state and trying to change the constitution by illegal means," he was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison and released in January 2006.Wright, ''Dreams and Shadows'', 2008, p.228-30 Since then Seif has told journalists that he and his family have been threatened by Syrian ''
Mukhabarat
( ar, مخابرات, also transliterated '' / ''), is the Arabic term for intelligence, as used by an intelligence agency. In most of the Middle East, the term is colloquially used in reference to secret police agents who spy on civilians. Org ...
'' demanding that he not talk to diplomats or any other foreigners, and that his businesses have been forced into bankruptcy; according to Seif, "It started when they cut off supplies for my factories".
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...
reports that since his release from prison he "has been subjected to various forms of harassment and ill-treatment," including the refusal to allow him to leave the country in late August 2007 for treatment of his
prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that su ...
, "which has advanced to a stage where it is liable to start spreading to other parts of his body without specialist treatment, which is only available outside Syria."
He was again arrested in early 2008 and imprisoned for trying to "overthrow the government", in reference to his work as a leader in the
Damascus Declaration
The Damascus Declaration ( ar, إعلان دمشق) was a statement of unity by Syrian opposition figures issued in October 2005. It criticized the Syrian government of the Assad dynasty as "authoritarian, totalitarian and cliquish," and called ...
. He was then incarcerated in
Adra Prison
Adra Prison ( ar, سجن عدرا) is a prison in Syria, on the northeast outskirts of Damascus. Political prisoners are held in the prison, along with a mixture of civil prisoners such as traffic offenders, murderers, and drug dealers. In 2014, t ...
together with other leaders of the Damascus Declarations.
He was arrested on 6 May 2011 in Damascus. He left Syria in 2012, and was elected co-vice-president of the new opposition government on 11 November 2012. On 6 May 2017, in
Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor, it is home to m ...
,
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
, he was elected president of the new opposition government.
Awards
* "Menschenrechtspreis der Stadt
Weimar
Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...
" (Translation: "Human Rights Award of the City of Weimar"),
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...