Opposition activist arrested

Human rights groups said Monday that security agents had arrested a prominent member of the Communist Labour Party upon his arrival at Damascus airport. The Damascus-based National Organisation for Human Rights (NOHR) said in a statement that Fateh Jammous, a member of the broad coalition of Syrian opposition figures known as the “Damascus Declaration”, was arrested on 30 April following his return from a six-week trip abroad. Jammous had apparently travelled to France, Sweden and Britain, where he met with other Syrian opposition figures. According to the NOHR, Jammous was arrested for his refusal to respond to a summons by security agents shortly before his trip, in addition to his reported meetings with fellow opposition figures. The organisation went on to describe the arrest as “illegal, a violation of legal and constitutional legitimacy and an encroachment upon the right to enjoy justice and personal security”. NOHR head Ammar Qurabi told IRIN: “Such harassment severely damages the country's reputation and will only bring more pressure on Syria.” In a separate statement, the Committees for Defending Democratic Liberties and Human Rights in Syria expressed similar anxiety over the arrest, also calling it “illegal” and “unconstitutional”. “All these measures will promote a climate of despair at the street level, at a time when Syria most needs [the loyalty of] all its sons,” the statement read. The Syrian Organisation for Human Rights also dismissed the detention as “unjustified”, adding that a spate of recent political arrests “clearly reveals a tangible retreat in the human rights record in Syria”. Jammous served 17 years in prison on earlier charges of belonging to the banned Communist Labour Party before being released in 2000. He later stood trial before a military court in 2001 for attending a lecture on the emergency law, which has remained in place since the ruling Ba’ath Party took power in 1963, although the charges against him were later dropped. Since taking office in July 2000, President Bashar Assad has released hundreds of political prisoners, but has simultaneously clamped down on a number of pro-democracy activists. The Syrian authorities normally do not react on right groups’ comments on the human rights situation in the country.