Syria Continues Opposition Arrests

Syrian opposition websites have carried news that more leaders of the Damascus Declaration for National Democratic Change in Syria have been arrested.



The Damascus Declaration group reported that activist Yassir al-Eiti was ordered to the security office on December 17 and has not been seen or heard from since. Eiti, 39, a doctor from Damascus, was recently elected a board member of the Syrian National Council of the Damascus Declaration group.



The same day, the security forces also arrested Ali al-Abdullah, a Damascus Declaration board member who lives in the Kunta district near Damascus. Abdullah, 57, a writer and political analyst, has served several years in prison for convictions related to his activism, the Damascus Declaration Group reported. He was arrested at his home.



More than 163 Syrians associated with the National Council of the Damascus Declaration met on December 1 to elect a new executive committee. On December 9, the State Security agency detained over 30 of those who attended, including Dr Ahmad Tohme and Jabr al-Shoufi, two leaders of the movement.



While most activists were released a few hours later, the authorities kept Tohme and al-Shoufi in detention. Human Rights Watch on December 17 called for the immediate release of five detained Damascus Declaration leaders, including Abdullah. All are being held without charges, Human Rights Watch reported.



Among those still being held is Akram al-Bunni. Al-Bunni, a former political prisoner during the late president Hafez al-Assad’s rule, is the brother of prominent lawyer and rights activist Anwar al-Bunni, who was sentenced to five years in jail in April for “spreading false news” when he made a statement that a man had died in jail from the inhumane conditions under which he had been held.



Syrian security forces also raided the home of opposition activist Riad Seif and broke up a meeting of members of the Damascus Declaration in Syria last week, the United States-based opposition website Aafaq reported on December 14. According to participants in the meeting, secret service agents banged on Seif’s front door in a Damascus suburb and then stormed in and told everyone inside to leave the house immediately.