Haitham al-Maleh
| Haitham al-Maleh هيثم المالح |
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| Born | 15 August 1930 |
| Nationality | Syrian |
| Occupation | Judge, Activist |
| Known for | Democracy campaigner Human rights activist Lawyer of political prisoners in Syria |
Haitham al-Maleh (Arabic: هيثم المالح, born August 15, 1930) is a Syrian human rights activist and former judge. He is a critic of the current Syrian government under Bashar al-Assad and has been imprisoned by the Syrian government because he was calling for constitutional reforms. Maleh became an important opposition figure in the Syrian Civil War.
Haitham al-Maleh earned a degree in law and a diploma in international law. He was first arrested in 1951 at the age of twenty when he called for an independent judiciary; he was imprisoned for three weeks. He became a judge in 1958. The first Baathist government dismissed him from the judicial bench because of his public criticism of the 1963 Emergency Law, which suspended constitutional rights and codified martial law. He returned to the practice of law after his dismissal.
While originally an advocate for democratic reforms, by the early 1970s, Maleh became an outspoken critic of the situation in Syria. The Syrian government ordered Maleh's arrest and detention numerous times because of his political activities. In 1978. Maleh was jailed as a political prisoner between 1980 and 1986 because he publicly criticized the Syrian government's lack of commitment to repeal the Emergency Law and suppression of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, culminating in the quelling of the group in 1982. He went on hunger strikes at least twice during his detention.
Maleh, human rights activists found common ground and started the Human Rights Association in Syria in July 2001, and he was elected president of the organization, a position he held until 2006. He has been active in Amnesty International since 1989.
Maleh wrote several times to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad criticizing the human rights violation in the country. Writing as the president of the Syrian Human Rights Association, he demanded the lifting of the Emergency Law. In 2003, he spoke before the German Parliament on the issue of Syrian human rights, describing al-Assad's rule as "a fascist dictatorship". When he returned, the Syrian government banned him from leaving the country for the next seven years.
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