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More opposition activists held in Syria
AFP, January 4,
2008
DAMASCUS (AFP)
— Two opposition activists have been arrested in Syria in
the past 48 hours, a human rights group said in a statement
on Friday, taking to nine the number detained in the past
month.
"The security
services in Damascus on Thursday arrested writer Fayez Sara
who attended a meeting of the National Council of the
Damascus Declaration," the National Organisation for Human
Rights in Syria said in a statement.
On Wednesday
Rashed Sattuf, a member of the National Council of the
Damascus Declaration was arrested in Raqqa, northern Syria,
and taken to Damascus, the rights group said.
The Damascus
Declaration, which calls for radical change, has united
communist, nationalist, liberal and Kurdish parties.
Sara, 58,
writes regularly for several Arabic-language daily
newspapers, while Sattuf served a 15-year jail term for
being in the banned communist party.
Seven other
opposition activists, including Damascus Declaration leader
gynaecologist Fidaa Horani, have been arrested in a swoop
launched by the authorities on December 9. All were
signatories of the declaration.
The crackdown
followed the creation at the start of last month of the
National Council charged with implementing the Damascus
Declaration.
Friday's
statement said the rights organisation "expresses its deep
concern at the arrests in Syria carried out under the state
of emergency imposed on the country 44 years ago, and urges
the authorities to immediately release Sara and Sattuf and
to stop making such arrests."
After a visit
to Damascus on December 29 and 30, two US Congressmen said
they had secured a pledge after talks with Syrian leaders
that jailed dissidents would be freed.
But on Tuesday
official media poured scorn on comments by House of
Representatives member Patrick Kennedy that he had secured
an undertaking from President Bashar al-Assad to release the
dissidents.
The state SANA
news agency cited an "official source" as denying that the
issue had even been raised.
US President
George W. Bush last month applauded the formation of the
opposition grouping, saying "the brave men and women who
formed this council reflect the desires of the majority of
Syrian people to live in freedom, democracy, and peace." |
