U.S. condemns arrest of Al Hayat journalist by Syria

Al Bawaba, the Middle East Gateway ^ | January 03 2003

[knighthawk]

The State Department on Thursday denounced Syria's detention of the Damascus correspondent of the Pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat.

Spokesman Richard Boucher said the arrest of Ibrahim Hamidi underscores the lack of freedom of press and basic civil liberties in Syria.

"We look to Syria, which is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and a member of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, to respect the rights of citizens to freedom of the press, speech and assembly and due process," he said. The US Embassy in Damascus will continue to follow the Hamidi case closely, Boucher added.

Syria's official news agency reported the arrest last Friday and said Hamidi was being questioned about alleged false reports that violate Syrian publication laws.

In an article in the London-based Al-Hayat on Dec. 20, Hamidi quoted informed sources as saying the Syrian government was preparing logistics to welcome up to 1 million Iraqi refugees on the Syrian-Iraqi border in the event of a U.S. attack on Iraq.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[PoisedWoman]

Yikes, if they're "detaining" their own journalists, what next?

I surfed around some Syrian sites yesterday and learned that a big new TV series is planned about Arabian takeover of Spain in 15th century and of the great Arabic culture formed there. Shades of bin Laden, who blasted the West for 15th-century "outrages" in Spain. Apparently a huge PR campaign is taking place in Mideast to turn the people further away from any sympathy with the West. Not good.

[knighthawk]

if they're "detaining" their own journalists, what next?

In 1982 the Syrian army killed off 20.000 people in the city of Hama after Assad's dad ordered the seige of the city. That is just how much Syria cares about their own people.