2007年VOA标准英语-US Criticizes Sentencing of Syrian Human Rights

By David Gollust
Washington
24 April 2007

Syrian lawer Anwar al-Bunni (File)

The United States has criticized the five-year prison term handed down against Syrian human-rights activist¹ Anwar al-Bunni. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department al-Bunni was a signatory of a petition critical Syrian coercion² against Lebanon.

The United States had spoken out on several occasions against the treatment of Anwar al-Bunni, who was prosecuted³ along with two other Syrian human-rights advocates after they signed a petition in May of 2006 protesting Syria's treatment of Lebanon.

A court in Damascus sentenced al-Bunni, who has already been detained for nearly a year, to five years in prison on charges of disseminating⁴ hostile information about Syria and belonging to an illegal political group.

State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said the sentence reflects the poor human-rights record of the Syrian government:

"It is a sad commentary on the state of political freedom in Syria, where an individual who is talking about legitimate⁵ issues about the way Syria is ruled is put in jail summarily," he said. "It is a sad fact that it is entirely⁶ consistent with past Syrian behavior, and it is one of the reasons why we are going to continue to highlight the lack of political and other freedoms in Syria."

Al-Bunni, long an advocate of democratic reform in Syria, had been among about 300 Syrian and Lebanese intellectuals who signed a petition, the Beirut-Damascus Declaration, calling for Syria to recognize Lebanon as a fully⁷ independent country.

At the time of his arrest, the Syrian state media accused signatories of conspiring⁸ with the United States and other supporters of a U.N. Security Council resolution approved last May that called for Syria to normalize its relationship with Lebanon, which it had largely occupied for three decades.

Syrian rights activists⁹ Michel Kilo and Mahmoud Issa also face charges over the petition.

On Monday, the State Department criticized weekend parliamentary elections in Syria as another missed opportunity for that country to move toward democracy.

Syrians voted Sunday on a national legislative¹⁰ assembly, the Council of the People, that is elected every four years, but has little say over policy. Syria has been under emergency law for four decades and no opposition¹¹ parties are allowed.

A U.S. statement said the Syrian government used intimidation¹² to restrict the candidate pool for the election and threats of reprisal¹³ to discourage political dissent¹⁴. The statement urged an end to such abusive practices.

Despite concerns about Syrian policy, including alleged¹⁵ support for Palestinian extremists, the United States maintains a limited political dialogue with the Damascus government, and has recently held talks with Syria on the problem of Iraqi refugees in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem and others plan to attend a conference on Iraq next week in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

U.S. officials do not rule out a separate meeting there between Rice and her Syrian counterpart.

1 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

2 coercion   

n.强制，高压统治

参考例句：

• Neither trickery nor coercion is used to secure confessions.既不诱供也不逼供。
• He paid the money under coercion.他被迫付钱。

3 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

4 disseminating   

散布，传播( disseminate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Our comrades in propaganda work have the task of disseminating Marxism. 我们作宣传工作的同志有一个宣传马克思主义的任务。
• Disseminating indecent photographs on the internet a distasteful act. 在因特网上发布不雅照片是卑劣的行径。

5 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 conspiring   

密谋( conspire的现在分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致

参考例句：

• They were accused of conspiring against the king. 他们被指控阴谋反对国王。
• John Brown and his associates were tried for conspiring to overthrow the slave states. 约翰·布朗和他的合伙者们由于密谋推翻实行奴隶制度的美国各州而被审讯。

9 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

11 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

12 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

13 reprisal   

n.报复，报仇，报复性劫掠

参考例句：

• There is no political alternative but a big reprisal.政治上没有旁的选择只能是大规模报复。
• They bombed civilian targets in reprisal.他们炮轰平民目标作为报复。

14 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

15 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为