Writing by Ethar Abdul Haq; Translation by Rana Abdul
(Zaman Al Wasl)- A secret document issued by the military intelligence branch reveal that the regime has persevered in observing and gathering information about every successful male student who passes the general high school exams in all branches of study including the scientific, literary, jurisprudential, manufacturing, and trade.
The document dated 31 December 2007, is directed from branch 271 to branch 291 (division 7), indicates that the observation, investigation and rising reports about all males who graduated high school is an annual systematic activity. The procedure is framed in an official document carrying the number 874 for the year 2007, and it shows that the regime intelligence was tasked with documenting information about around 85 thousand males following the announcement of the high school exam results for the year 2007.
Zaman al-Wasl reviewed the numbers for those who undertook the high school exams for 2007 and found that around 79 thousand students (male and female) in the scientific branch underwent the exam for around 60 thousand of them to pass. In the literary branch, around 176 thousand students (male and female) underwent the exam and around 107 thousand passed. In the sharia high school, over 1900 students (male and female) underwent exams and around 1400 passed.
If we assume that the percentage of successful male students is around 50% then we face a number equivalent to 85 thousand males in that year alone. Intelligence personal had to raise files containing detailed information not just about them but about their parents, family and relatives, so it was necessary to observe and follow millions of Syrians to reach information about the successful male students.
-Change in Style-
Before diving into the document’s contents, it is useful to indicate that the special circular concerning observation and lifting of reports about tens of thousands of successful male students was issued during Bashar al-Assad’s reign. Bashar al-Assad who many different Syrians and non-Syrians from Arabs and foreigners were deceived by his publicity about reform and development, and the lessening of the security grip. These documents prove that Bashar increased the intelligence grip, but he changed the method whereby avoiding as much as possible the visible manifestations that accompanied his father’s reign.
Contrary to popular belief, during Bashar’s reign the intelligence apparatus controlled the situation in Syria, and the percentage of its intervention in Syrians concerns increased and it was more entrenched.
Returning to the document, we find it an example of the information that must be collected and lifted in the report. The information must first present the successful student’s name, his father’s name, the student’s year and place of birth, and place of residence. These are followed by information concerning: his profession, social status (single or married), his political orientation (Baath, neutral, etc), his arguments and ideas (progressive, ordinary, etc), his criminal record (sentenced or not sentenced), his morals, socio-economic class, how attached he is to social structures, and his financial situation.
The information is all inclusive and investigates every little detail about the successful student as if he faces nomination for a sensitive governmental position, and not a mere youth feeling out his first steps in his educational future.
The regime intelligence was not content with observing tens of thousands of successful students every year but extended their actions to digging up information about students’ fathers, their families, relatives and friends, and those could include cousins, uncles and others to reach up to 50 or 40 persons or potentially more per student.
After presenting the student’s data, it was necessary to present his father’s data (job, has he left Syria, citizenship, degree of religiosity, social reputation, and criminal record), as well as present the data of family and relatives (their political orientation, their influence on the student), and finally a presentation of the students’ friends (their political orientation).
-Wide Door-
The document reveals that the investigation about all successful male students every year was one of the wide doors through which the intelligence documented the private and intimate details of millions of Syrians’ lives. Syrians were aware of the degree of nosiness of the intelligence members as well as their knowledge that the intelligence apparatus comes to houses through their windows and not their doors, and if they come through the door than it is by way of breaking the door.
The example document presents the classification system the regime drowned the Syrian society in as it shows how intelligence members understood and defined the political orientation of students (Baath member, Communist, Unitary…). It is unclear how the intelligence personal determine students’ levels of morality or characterize their arguments and ideas as progressive or regressive.
In other words, what is the tool of measurement used by the regime intelligence. How can we solve the dilemma of the contradiction between the social concept of morals and progress and the regime’s concept, especially as the regime ties progress with adopting anti-religious ideas such as a drinking alcohol or making his sister take off her headscarf or rebelling against social norms. All of these moves and practices categorize the actor as a person of ill repute in society, the majority of which is conservative in nature, whereas the regime encourages such behavior by labelling the actor as ‘progressive’.
The document demonstrates once more that the military intelligence branch is the real monster of all the intelligence apparatus, the genuine octopus that extends its hands into every corner civil, military, political, social, economic, internal and external. Zaman al-Wasl has previously documented with numbers and statistics in this report.
(Zaman Al Wasl)- A secret document issued by the military intelligence branch reveal that the regime has persevered in observing and gathering information about every successful male student who passes the general high school exams in all branches of study including the scientific, literary, jurisprudential, manufacturing, and trade.
The document dated 31 December 2007, is directed from branch 271 to branch 291 (division 7), indicates that the observation, investigation and rising reports about all males who graduated high school is an annual systematic activity. The procedure is framed in an official document carrying the number 874 for the year 2007, and it shows that the regime intelligence was tasked with documenting information about around 85 thousand males following the announcement of the high school exam results for the year 2007.
Zaman al-Wasl reviewed the numbers for those who undertook the high school exams for 2007 and found that around 79 thousand students (male and female) in the scientific branch underwent the exam for around 60 thousand of them to pass. In the literary branch, around 176 thousand students (male and female) underwent the exam and around 107 thousand passed. In the sharia high school, over 1900 students (male and female) underwent exams and around 1400 passed.
If we assume that the percentage of successful male students is around 50% then we face a number equivalent to 85 thousand males in that year alone. Intelligence personal had to raise files containing detailed information not just about them but about their parents, family and relatives, so it was necessary to observe and follow millions of Syrians to reach information about the successful male students.
-Change in Style-
Before diving into the document’s contents, it is useful to indicate that the special circular concerning observation and lifting of reports about tens of thousands of successful male students was issued during Bashar al-Assad’s reign. Bashar al-Assad who many different Syrians and non-Syrians from Arabs and foreigners were deceived by his publicity about reform and development, and the lessening of the security grip. These documents prove that Bashar increased the intelligence grip, but he changed the method whereby avoiding as much as possible the visible manifestations that accompanied his father’s reign.
Contrary to popular belief, during Bashar’s reign the intelligence apparatus controlled the situation in Syria, and the percentage of its intervention in Syrians concerns increased and it was more entrenched.
Returning to the document, we find it an example of the information that must be collected and lifted in the report. The information must first present the successful student’s name, his father’s name, the student’s year and place of birth, and place of residence. These are followed by information concerning: his profession, social status (single or married), his political orientation (Baath, neutral, etc), his arguments and ideas (progressive, ordinary, etc), his criminal record (sentenced or not sentenced), his morals, socio-economic class, how attached he is to social structures, and his financial situation.
The information is all inclusive and investigates every little detail about the successful student as if he faces nomination for a sensitive governmental position, and not a mere youth feeling out his first steps in his educational future.
The regime intelligence was not content with observing tens of thousands of successful students every year but extended their actions to digging up information about students’ fathers, their families, relatives and friends, and those could include cousins, uncles and others to reach up to 50 or 40 persons or potentially more per student.
After presenting the student’s data, it was necessary to present his father’s data (job, has he left Syria, citizenship, degree of religiosity, social reputation, and criminal record), as well as present the data of family and relatives (their political orientation, their influence on the student), and finally a presentation of the students’ friends (their political orientation).
-Wide Door-
The document reveals that the investigation about all successful male students every year was one of the wide doors through which the intelligence documented the private and intimate details of millions of Syrians’ lives. Syrians were aware of the degree of nosiness of the intelligence members as well as their knowledge that the intelligence apparatus comes to houses through their windows and not their doors, and if they come through the door than it is by way of breaking the door.
The example document presents the classification system the regime drowned the Syrian society in as it shows how intelligence members understood and defined the political orientation of students (Baath member, Communist, Unitary…). It is unclear how the intelligence personal determine students’ levels of morality or characterize their arguments and ideas as progressive or regressive.
In other words, what is the tool of measurement used by the regime intelligence. How can we solve the dilemma of the contradiction between the social concept of morals and progress and the regime’s concept, especially as the regime ties progress with adopting anti-religious ideas such as a drinking alcohol or making his sister take off her headscarf or rebelling against social norms. All of these moves and practices categorize the actor as a person of ill repute in society, the majority of which is conservative in nature, whereas the regime encourages such behavior by labelling the actor as ‘progressive’.
The document demonstrates once more that the military intelligence branch is the real monster of all the intelligence apparatus, the genuine octopus that extends its hands into every corner civil, military, political, social, economic, internal and external. Zaman al-Wasl has previously documented with numbers and statistics in this report.
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