Call to Release Media Rights Advocate

A human rights advocate has called on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to release the Syrian free speech advocate Mazen Darwish, who is charged with libelling and insulting the government.



Daniel Saud, head of the Committee to Protect Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights in Syria, asked Assad to release and drop all charges against Darwish and other political prisoners and journalists now in detention, the independent news website All4Syria reported on April 20.



Darwish, who heads the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, was arrested in January after reporting on unrest following a murder in the Damascus suburb of Adra. According to the All4Syria report, Darwish maintains he was charged because he refused police requests to change quotes from the individuals he interviewed and to “conceal the truth”.



Darwish said the conditions in which journalists work are “deteriorating”, and Syria needs laws to protect freedom of expression, including a prohibition on the jailing of journalists.



All4Syria also reported that the trial of Ahmed al-Hijji al-Khalaf, a member of the Arab Organisation for Human Rights and a teacher, is continuing in a military court. The education ministry filed charges against Khalaf after he posted an article online that criticised its department in Rekka province.