Several political detainees released in Syria
Syria, Politics, 11/27/2001

News reports in Damascus said that the Syrian authorities on Sunday released a group of political detainees totaling 18 persons, with the majority of them accused of being members in the banned Muslim brothers group, at a time it is expected that more political detainees will be released until the end of Ramadan.

The reports quoted sources close to the families of the detainees that some 90 persons were transported from Sednaya ( a resort in the outskirts of Damascus where there is a prison ) prison waiting to complete administrative measures to release them.

Despite the fact that well-informed Syrian sources said that the last released group is the last ones who were freed in the context of the Presidential pardoning on the occasion of 16 November ( the 31st anniversary of the Correctionist movement led by late Syrian President Hafez al- Assad on November 16, 1970), however, human rights defense committees in Syria said that others will be shortly released after the " Hama's local daily al-Fidaa had announced that some 130 political detainees will be released according to special pardoning ( Hama is Syria's fourth city in the central part of the country.) Well-informed sources said that 80% of the released persons are Islamists.

Sources close to the detainees said that among the freed are Kurds and others with different accusations.

Meantime, committee's sources expected others to be released at a time when there are talks that the ten persons arrested during the few weeks will be released in order to be tried while out of prison and that these include Lawyer Riyadh al-Turk and independent member of parliament Riyadh Seif.

The news reports said that among Leftists who are still in the Syrian prisons are members of the Arab communist organization with Abdul Aziz al-Khayyer from the communist labor party, besides members in the Iraqi Baath Party who used to be considered allies to the religious trend in the attacks of the 1980 s against the country, as well as several Palestinian detainees whereas the file of the democratic Baath part was closed in a step that activists in the area of human rights hope to be another step towards closing the file of old detainees.

Previous Stories:
  Al-Shueibi and signals for the Presidential pardoning in Syria   (11/26/2001)
  Al-Shara visits Beirut today   (11/26/2001)
  The Kurdistan's national federation and Jund al-Islam group   (11/26/2001)

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