Special to WorldTribune.com

LONDON — Germany has overseen the transfer of advanced network
surveillance technology to the regime of President Bashar Assad.

The Assad regime was said to have acquired technology from Germany’s
Siemens that could be used to spy on the Sunni opposition. German state
television reported that Siemens has been providing advanced surveillance
technology to Damascus since at least 2000.

“We need a broader debate about the ethical responsibility of
companies,” German human rights activist Stephan Urbach said.

Germany has also failed to prevent weapons shipments to the Assad regime. On April 14, the German daily Der Spiegel reported that that a German ship loaded with Iranian weapons was stopped before it reached the Syrian port of Tartous.

“We stopped the ship after we received information on the weapons cargo,” Torsten Lueddeke, a representative of Germany’s CEG Bulk Chartering, said.

Germany’s ARD television reported that Siemens sold a product called “Monitoring Center” to the Syrian mobile communications company Syriatel, controlled by the Assad regime. A European subcontractor, Nokia Siemens Networks, confirmed the delivery, which took place as part a European joint venture with Damascus. Nokia was said to have also been involved in similar sales to Bahrain and Iran.

In 2007, Siemens formed a joint venture called Nokia Siemens Networks,
and a year later signed a contract for the Monitoring Center, designed to
intercept communications from either fixed or mobile networks as well as the
Internet. On April 10, ARD, citing documents, said the contracts were
transferred in 2009 to Nokia’s Trovicor.

Trovicor was also said to have sold advanced surveillance equipment to
Bahrain. The company has said it was not permitted to identify clients.

The United States has also sought to stop the sale of advanced
technology to Syria. In October 2011, the U.S. firm Blue Coat Systems
acknowledged that its web blocking devices ordered by Iraq were transferred
to the Assad regime.

“The German government has completely missed this debate, particularly
in the wake of revelations about such filtering and surveillance systems,”
Urbach said.

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