Danish Parliamentarian Khader in show of Solidarity with Syria

(Zaman al-Wasl) The Danish parliamentarian Naser Khader said in a special conversation with Zaman al-Wasl that the tragic humanitarian situation which Syria, and Aleppo in particular, are living is something that cannot be ignored. The situation is the main motive for his continuous solidarity with Syria and for the show of solidarity he and his parliamentary colleagues undertook on Thursday when they came to parliament wearing black shirts with writing on them calling for the halting of the massacre.

The politician Khader spoke to Zaman al-Wasl via telephone from the heart of the Danish parliament highlighting that almost a week ago he demanded the international coalition, which Demark is a member in, to impose a no fly zone over Syria, stop the bombing of Aleppo, present legal cases against Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin describing them both as war criminals. 

Khader added, “today I entered the parliament wearing a black shirt with ‘Syria, Aleppo, Massacre… Save Syria,’ written on it, but the prime minister refrained from participating in this activity under the dome which gave our move momentum and brought attention to it.”

The parliamentarian clarified that 5 parliamentarians from 3 different Danish parties participated in the activity and wore the shirts. A number of other parliament members would have joined except they saw the objection of the prime minister to the move. Khader was the person distributing the solidarity shirts to them. 

In addition to the five parliamentarians, around 20 activists attended the parliamentary session wearing the shirt and sitting in the parliamentary balcony. Unlike the parliamentarians, they were not asked by the prime minister to take off their shirts. 

Khader explained that at first he entered the parliamentary hall wearing the shirt, and no one objected to it, but when his other colleagues began entering the prime minister felt the issue was big and she decided to intervene. She requested the parliamentarians wearing the solidarity shirts leave the hall and take off the shirts for them to be able to participate in the session. 

Khader, who is of Palestinian origin, said his move came in tandem with two things, the opening of the new round of sessions in parliament and Danish television broadcasting an interview with Bashar al-Assad. 

Regarding the official Danish television station’s interview with Bashar al-Assad, whose hands still bear the blood of the Syrian people, Khader commented considering that the interview had the opposition effect to what al-Assad wanted as it entrenched the idea of his delusional and open deceit among the Danish people.

Khader saw the interview as positive in terms of increasing support for the Syrian people. He used the example of the Danish journalist directing to al-Assad a question about the truth regarding his bombing of hospitals, and how al-Assad insisted on denying any targeting of hospitals, and said that talk of bombing hospitals are claims and false accusations. This alone convicts al-Assad as the images of medical facilities being bombed come in everyday and are broadcasted in different media outlets including the Danish media. 

Regarding his noticeable concern for the Syrian issue and his focus on it, Khader said that he was born in Barzeh neighborhood, north of Damascus, and he grew up in Syria until he was 11. A large number of his relatives are still in Syria today, but that is not the only or the main reason as he said, “even if I was not born in Syria, my stand would not differ because what is happening in Syria is injustice and a massacre, and no one can overlook it.”

We asked the parliamentarian if he has received any threat letters or direct or indirect promises from the regime due to his solidarity with the Syrian people. Khader confirmed that he received many such threats from the regime supporters and followers, and among them direct threats of the type, “if you come to Syria we will put you in a dicing machine.”

Khader indicted that the prime minister’s reservations about his and his colleagues moves did not stem, as he believed, from a lack of solidarity with Aleppo but came as part of the obligations and rules of work in parliament which prohibits undertaking such activities under its dome. 

Khader said that he does not usually resort to such methods to express his protest, as he has a seat in parliament and media outlets publish his articles, but the situation in Aleppo reaching this unimaginable stage pushed him to pursue this method. 

Khader indicated that the five parliamentarians, including him, are considered to be part of the political right which is known to be far from sympathetic to foreign affairs matters where the reputation in this field lies with the leftist parties. Zaman al-Wasl asked Khader about the secret of the European left’s sympathy for Bashar al-Assad, in the best situations the left is silent about what is happening in Syria.

 

Khader indicated that the left’s hatred of the United States makes its stand automatically with any regime that supposedly fights Washington and challenges its projects, and those leftists in most cases do not care about justice or the massacres only that they not stand under the same ceiling with Washington. 

Khader confirmed that the images of killing and destruction taking place in Syria reaches the Danish audience, and it is aware of what is happening there, but the repeated bloodiness of these images tires this audience at times, so it is necessary to change the method to keep the Danish public aware of what is happening. 

Indication: The al-Assad intelligence archive obtained by Zaman al-Wasl reveals the existence of 210 warrants for the arrest of persons carrying Danish citizenship among them Naser Khader whose name appeared repeatedly, one in Latin letters with a note that he is Danish of Palestinian origin, and another time in Arabic with a note that he is a Palestinian holding Danish citizenship.