The latest reports are that Rashed Sattuf has been released by Syrian authorities, a few days after he was initially detained. The whole catch-and-release surrounding the advocates of the recent Damascus Declaration is getting interesting:
"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.
Yet Sattuf has been released. A small victory.
Or maybe they'll request Everyday is Like Sunday: "Come, come, nuclear bomb..."
Posted by: dr dre beats headphones | December 01, 2011 at 08:18 PM