Law student and family arrested

Since the 23 March 2006 Syrian writer Ali al-Abdullah and his two sons, Mohammed and Omar, and his nephew are in detention in Syria. No explanation has been given for their detention. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Syrian security forces had previously arrested Omar al-Abdullah, a law student and the son of Ali al-Abdullah, on 18 March for his criticism of the continuation of the emergency law.

Security forces then arrested Ali al-Abdullah, his other son, Mohammed, and his nephew Salah, on 23 March. This unjustified procedure, is, according to IFEX, is a violation of freedom of expression and Syrian citizens' right to personal safety.

Several Egyptian human rights groups condemned the incident, and the
deterioration of the human rights situation in Syria. One of the
characteristics of human rights violations in Syria is the daily arrests of
political and human rights activists, in addition to the martial courts in
which Syrian citizens are tried for peacefully expressing their opinions.

Egyptian human rights groups emphasise that the state of emergency has had
negative consequences for the rights of Syrian citizens. Syria has been
under a state of emergency since the early 1960s.

These human rights groups call for the immediate and
unconditional release of Syrian writer Ali al-Abdullah, his family and all
other Syrian prisoners of opinion. They call on Arab and international civil
society groups to support human rights activists in Syria whose rights are
regularly violated on the hands of security authorities.

It is worth mentioning that the writer Ali al-Abdullah is a member of the
committees to revive civil society and the Al-Atassy forum. He was
previously arrested in May 2005 and was released four months ago to be
re-detained with his family one more time. Furthermore, there are reports
that he will be brought before a martial court without being provided with
an explanation or reasons for such a procedure.

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Alert - Syria