Syria: Aktham Nueisah starts hunger strike

The committee in charge of democratic freedoms and human rights in Syria yesterday announced that its chairman and official spokesman Aktham Nueiseh started on Sunday an open food strike in "protest of his imprisonment conditions " since April 13.

The organization explained that "it had received with great concern that Aktham Nueiseh announced an open food strike as from Sunday, in protest of conditions of imprisonment, a situation which constitutes a real threat to his life." The committees held the specialized authorities responsible for preserving his life and called for " his immediate release."

Meantime, the human rights society in Syria yesterday called on the Syrian authority to " close the file of political detention" by releasing the political detainees. The call was made on the occasion of the Syrian detainee day which falls yesterday ( Monday).

However, the riot-fighting police yesterday prevented scores of citizens from holding a sit-in in Arnous square in Damascus demanding the release of political detainees.