Nayouf travels for medical treatment in France

Journalist Nizar Nayouf said he will leave for France on Sunday for medical treatment at the expense of the " Sans frontier journalists" after he had several days ago received an entry visa to France from the French embassy in Damascus.

Nayouf ( 40 year old) got a passport at the directives of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who ordered his release on May 6th this year just one year before the end of his imprisonment period of a judicial sentence released in 1992 to jail him for 10 years.

In a statement to the London - based al-Hayat daily in its Saturday's issue Nayouf said from his coastal village Bsendyanah that he vowed " not to make press statements outside the country and during his presence outside Syria."

He added he seeks to convene a press conference in Damascus in coordination with one member at the Syrian parliament. He added that the " Sans frontier journalists " organization will bear costs of his travel and medical treatment from cancer as well as the surgery in his backbone to deal with the discrepancy in his leg in " La Salbtiere " hospital in Paris.

Meantime, Syrian official sources doubted the " story of his disappearance " on the wake of President Bashar al-Assad's travel to Paris on June 25. There is an official belief that he was " hiding" at the house of the lawyer Khalil Matouq, who had a car accident just two days ago, But Nayouf stressed he was kidnapped by the security forces.

Nayouf said he will meet during his stay in Paris with the chairman of " the sans frontier journalists" Robert Minar and the chairman of the " International Press society" Timmony Bardeng and the official in charge for the Middle East in the " society" Ann Marexon. Nayouf also received an invitation from German press foundations to visit Germany with his brother Hayan who will accompany him to Paris.