Riad Seif (Arabic: رياض سيف‎; born 25 November 1946^[1]) is Syrian political dissident, formerly a member of the Parliament of Syria and prominent businessman, who founded and lead the Forum for National Dialogue.^[2] Seif was elected to parliament in 1994 as an independent and again in 1998. For many years held the Adidas franchise in Damascus.^[3]

Overview[link]

According to Seif, his career in industry 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 Corporation.^[4]

Following the death of Syrian leader Hafez al Assad in June 2000, Seif assembled "leading [Syrian] intellectuals and independent voices" to discuss "how to open up Syria's ... political system." The group - which met on Wednesdays evenings, 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.^[5] In January 2001, Seif announced his intention to create a new political party to compete with the ruling Ba'th Party. Around this time he also questioned the monopoly on the new cellular telephone system granted to the family of Hafez al Assad's wife Anissa Makhlouf. Calling the deal `a big scandal that would cost Syria, an underdeveloped country, millions and millions of dollars`, Seif `spoke against it loudly in parliament and forced them to investigate it.`^[6] After a major meeting of the Forum for National Dialogue on 5 September 2001 which several hundred people attended, Seif was arrested.^[7] 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.^[8] Since then Seif has told journalists that he and his family have been threatened by Syrian Mukhabarat demanding that he not talk to diplomats or any other foreigners, and that his businesses have been forced into bankruptcy. `It started when they cut off supplies for my factories.`

Amnesty International 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, "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."^[9]

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. He was then incarcerated in Adra Prison together with other leaders of the Damascus Declarations.

He was arrested on 6 May 2011 in Damascus.^[10]

Awards[link]

• "Menschenrechtspreis der Stadt Weimar" (Translation: "Human Rights Award of the City of Weimar"), Germany 2003^[1]

See also[link]

• Damascus Spring

References[link]

v t e Arab Spring "Ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam" Events by country Tunisia Algeria Bahrain Egypt (revolution · transition) Iranian Khuzestan Iraq Israeli borders Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Libya (civil war · transition) Mali Mauritania Morocco Oman Palestinian Authority Saudi Arabia Sudan Syria Yemen Groups Bahrain: Al Wefaq February 14 Youth Coalition Egypt: April 6 Youth Movement Kefaya Muslim Brotherhood National Association for Change National Democratic Party Revolutionary Socialists Libya: National Liberation Army National Transitional Council Saudi Arabia: Women to drive movement CDHRAP Society for Development and Change Syria: Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (Regional Command · National Command) Free Syrian Army Syrian Revolution General Commission National Council of Syria National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change Tunisia: Constitutional Democratic Rally Yemen: Alliance of Yemeni Tribes Al-Islah Hashid Notable people Algeria: Abdelaziz Bouteflika Bahrain: Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa Hasan Mushaima Ali Salman Ali Jawad al-Sheikh Egypt: Hosni Mubarak Omar Suleiman Wael Ghonim Khaled Mohamed Saeed Gigi Ibrahim Essam Sharaf Mohamed ElBaradei Jordan: King Abdullah II Marouf al-Bakhit Samir Rifai Libya: Muammar Gaddafi Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Mustafa Abdul Jalil Mahmoud Jibril Mohammed Nabbous Morocco: Mohammed VI Abbas El Fassi Saudi Arabia: Khaled al-Johani Manal al-Sharif Sudan: Hassan al-Turabi Syria: Bashar al-Assad Burhan Ghalioun Hamza Ali Al-Khateeb Tunisia: Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Mohamed Bouazizi United Arab Emirates: UAE Five Yemen: Ali Abdullah Saleh Abd al-Rab Mansur al-Hadi Tawakel Karman Abdul Majeed al-Zindani Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar Sadiq al-Ahmar Impact Occupy movement Albania Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Burkina Faso Croatia Cyprus Djibouti Georgia Greece India Iran Iraqi Kurdistan Maldives Mexico People's Republic of China Portugal Russia Spain Turkey United Kingdom United States (2011 Wisconsin protests Occupy Wall Street) International reactions United Nations General Assembly Resolution 65/265 United Nations Security Council Resolution 1970 United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 United Nations Security Council Resolution 2009 United Nations Security Council Resolution 2014 United Nations Security Council Resolution 2016 United Nations Security Council Resolution 2042 Timeline Timeline of the 2011 Egyptian revolution Timeline of the 2011–2012 Bahraini uprising Timeline of the 2011–2012 Syrian uprising Timeline of the 2011–2012 Yemeni revolution Timeline of the Libyan civil war Timeline of the 2011–2012 Saudi Arabian protests Category  Commons  Wikiquotes