Syria has arrested two members of a recently formed political prisoners support group, whose inaugural meeting was broken up by police on Monday. AKI is reporting Yasin al-Hamawi, the father of jailed Syrian dissident, Abu Haytham al-Hamawi, himself arrested two years ago after he helped launch an anti-corruption campaign, was picked up by police on Tuesday evening, at his home in Dariya near the capital, Damascus. The other man, Muhammad al-Abdallah, the son of a political prisoner, Ali al-Abdallah, was arrested at his home on Wednesday morning.
The Syrian Human Rights Committee (SHRC) says eyewitnesses have reported the arrest of Yasin al-Hamawi occurred at around 11am Tuesday morning, when several cars approached his place of work and took him away. It is not known which intelligence apparatus arrested him, nor the destination to which he was taken to.
The Commission of Relatives of Prisoners of Opinion and of Conscience (CRPOC) was holding its inaugural meeting on Monday when police surrounded the building where the launch was being held, in the town of Dariya near the capital Damascus. The police then peacefully broke up the meeting, but first warned one of the group's leaders, Yasin al-Hamawi, not to organize another one without the authorities' consent.
The Commission for the Rebirth of Civil Society, described the arrests "as a violation of the most basic right of the relatives of the prisoners; the right for them to follow the cases involving their loved ones and to seek their release."
The Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR) released a statement demanding that authorities reveal who issued an arrest warrant against Hamawi, and that he be formally charged before a civilian court or be released immediately. Just last week SHRC faxed a petition signed by more than 1,000 people to President Bashar Al Assad yesterday calling for the release of the head of the group and other political prisoners.
SHRC stated that it views the arrest of the citizen Yassin al-Hamwi as an attempt to terrorize and silence the Syrian citizens who call for the release of their sons, fathers and relatives from prisons, and strongly condemns these despotic and barbaric acts of suppressing freedom.
SHRC requests that Yassin al-Hamwi and all other political detainees in the jails of the Syrian regime be released, and requests that all human rights defenders shed light on the acts that the Intelligence and security forces in Syria commit and demand for the release of all prisoners of conscience. Sources: Syrian Human Rights Committee, AKI, The Peninsula (Qatar), Khaleej Times
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