Opposition Leader's Husband Deported

Syrian security services have deported the husband of a prominent activist who is currently in jail, the Syrian opposition group Movement for Justice and Development reported on February 28.



The government deported Ghazi Alayyan, the husband of Damascus Declaration National Council chairwoman Fida al-Hurani, who has been held since mid-December. Alayyan is a Palestinian doctor who worked at the Hurani Hospital in the central Syrian city of Hama, where he had resided since 1990.



The government revoked Alayyan’s residence permit and deported him to Jordan. The hospital is owned by al-Hurani, who is a doctor and is the daughter of a Syrian Baath party founder.



In a separate development, the Movement for Justice and Democracy and the National Council of the Damascus Declaration for Democratic Change reported on March 5 that three scholars from the Islamic Religious University had been arrested.



The three were deputy dean Imad ud-Din al-Rashid, Islamic studies professor Taisir al-Omar and Saleh al-Ali, the university’s administrative director.



The Movement for Justice and Democracy expressed concern about the detention of academics and religious figures, saying they “play a vital role in stability and enhance the social and religious immunity of Syrian society”. It argued that the lecturers were fighting fanaticism and extremist movements.