Lake: US Investigating Syrian Diplomats

Eli Lake reports:

The State Department is investigating charges that Syrian diplomats are spying on Syrian anti-government demonstrators in Washington and other U.S. cities in order to intimidate their relatives in the restive Middle Eastern nation.

Eric Boswell, assistant secretary for diplomatic security, last week summoned Syrian Ambassador Imad Moustapha to air “concerns with the reported actions of certain Syrian Embassy staff in the United States,” the State Department said Friday evening.

“We received reports that Syrian mission personnel under AmbassadorMoustapha’s authority have been conducting video and photographic surveillance of people participating in peaceful demonstrations in the United States,” the department said.

The charges could spur the State Department to restrict the travel of the ambassador and other Syrian diplomats.

Hamdi Rifai, director of Arab Americans for Democracy in Syria, said he filed a complaint with the State Department in June about reports of the ambassador’s attempted intimidation and surveillance of Syrian-Americans.

“I was told they were actively considering placing restrictions on the movement of Ambassador Moustapha amongst other remedies to the situation,” Mr. Rifai said.

Radwan Ziadeh, the director of the Damascus Center for Human Rightswho is in close touch with Syria’s liberal opposition, said he first noticed Syrian diplomats monitoring demonstrations in Washington last month.

“What I know is, we have had demonstrations in front of the White House last month and, for the first time, we were confronted by some supporters of the Assad regime. When we took pictures and looked for their names, some of them worked for the embassy,” he said.

“This happened also in Michigan, New Jersey and Los Angeles, where there is a large Syrian community. We started asking the State Department to follow up on this issue.”

Mr. Ziadeh said he was worried that the activities from the embassy personnel were part of a campaign to intimidate the families of Syrian-Americans.

“All the Syrian exiles who are activists are afraid to go back to Syria,” he said. “My mother is in Damascus. She has been told she cannot travel, and my brothers and sisters have been told they cannot travel. They called my brother to issue statements to discredit and attack me. This is because of what I am doing outside of the country.”