Friday, March 18, 2011

Syria Thursday freed five protesters who had been detained at a rally to demand the release of political prisoners, a rights group said amid international calls for more to be let go.
“The writer Tayeb Tizini, the journalist Mazen Darweesh, Maimuna Meemar, Amer Daoud and his son were released on Wednesday evening,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Security forces arrested dozens of protesters in Damascus Wednesday as they broke up a demonstration staged in front of the Interior Ministry to demand the release of political prisoners.

Abdel-Karim Rihawi, president of the Syrian League for the Defense of Human Rights, confirmed to AFP the release of the five, but said 34 people had been detained overall at the protest.

The detainees include rights activist Suhair Atassi and Kurdish blogger Kamal Sheikho, who had only been released from prison Sunday, as well as five relatives of opposition figure Kamal Labwani, who is serving a 12-year sentence.
Wednesday’s demonstration came a day after around 200 people took to the streets in order to demand major political reforms in Syria, which is still under a 1963 emergency law that bans demonstrations.

France Thursday condemned violence against protesters in the Syrian capital, and the United States called on Syria to exercise restraint and refrain from violence.
“France condemns the violence carried out against demonstrators and the arrests that followed,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said following Wednesday’s protest calling for political prisoners to be freed.

“France calls on the Syrian authorities to free everyone detained for having taken part in demonstrations or because of their opinion or their actions in support of human rights.”
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said Thursday that 18 protesters were arrested, and called on Syrian authorities to release all of those who remained in custody.

“President Bashar al-Assad’s recent calls for reform ring hollow when his security services still beat and detain anyone who calls for reform,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW’s Middle East director.

“Syrians deserve no less than the Egyptians and Tunisians who finally succeeded in forcing their political leadership to disband the feared state security services,” Whitson said.
HRW has reported protesters complained they were beaten by police with batons at the demonstration, which was followed the same day by a smaller protest in support of Assad.

Amnesty International also condemned the crackdown and called for the release of political prisoners.
Witnesses told the rights group at least 30 people were arrested, including family members of political prisoners and human rights activists, and taken to unknown locations. They said security forces beat children, women and the elderly. – Agencies