ACCUSATIONS that the state is not doing enough to help two Cypriots arrested in Syria last year on drugs charges are “unfair”, said a Foreign Ministry official yesterday.
The Cyprus Embassy in Damascus is monitoring the situation closely and even taking food to the two inmates while their parents have yet to visit them, said ministry official Phedon Anastasiou.
The father of one of the Cypriots complained on television that the Foreign Ministry and the Cyprus Embassy were not doing enough to help the two men, arrested last May at Damascus airport after 28kg of drugs were found in their luggage. He accused them of “inaction and indifference”.
In response, the ministry head of the Schengen Directorate and Consulate Affairs, Phedon Anastasiou, said there was little else the state could do to help the two Cypriots.
The two were arrested on May 18, 2008. The ministry was not informed until June 4, and not by the families but by the Cyprus Drugs Squad which heard of the case from its Syrian counterpart, noted Anastasiades.
The next day, on June 5, the Cypriot ambassador in Damascus Efstathios Orphanides met with a Syrian Foreign Ministry official to be informed on their arrest and the conditions of their detention in the Syrian prison.
According to a ministry statement, an embassy official made over 10 visits to the prison, while a ministry official has been in daily telephone contact with the parents of the two.
“From the first moment until today we have been by the side of the two inmates, who are fed with special food taken by embassy officials and have been given certain privileges. The condition of their detention is closely monitored by the embassy,” said Anastasiades.
The diplomat said the criticism levelled against the ministry and embassy was “unfair” especially “when the parents themselves haven’t visited their children”.
“What else can the government, ministry or ambassador do? They were arrested, and 28kg of drugs were found in their possession,” said Anastasiades.
The official noted that the best the state could do was secure decent prison conditions and a fair trial. “That’s all we can do,” he added.
He noted that a Syrian lawyer, appointed by the families through a local friend, was representing the two Cypriots.
He further claimed that the two Cypriots gave conflicting statements about their arrest.
“The two Cypriots left Larnaca, they say in one statement, for Lebanon. In Lebanon, they say, a Lebanese man gave them two bags with diamonds to take to Syria. In a second statement, they say, at Damascus airport on the way to Vienna, a Greek man gave them two suitcases to take because he was over the weight limit. These are the two scenarios,” said Anastasiades.
The ministry also claims, in a statement released after the father went public with his criticism, that the Cypriots’ defence team was responsible for the repeated postponements of the case in court.
The ministry and embassy in Damascus are closely monitoring the case and providing any consulate or other assistance possible for the two prisoners, said the announcement.
