Syria

Status: Political prisoner

Nezar Rastanawi is a married man with 4 sons and 4 daughters from the city of Hama, who works as engineer and graduated from the University of Aleppo in 1983.

Between 2003 and 2005, he was a member of the Committee for the Defense of Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights in Syria. Now, he is a member of the Human Rights Association in Syria and the Arab Organization for Human Rights in Syria.

Status: Political prisoner

Born in Damascus in 1985, Omar al-Abdullah was a second-year student in the philosophy department at the University of Damascus.

He has participated in the Dialog Forum as well as some peaceful demonstrations. He was arrested for the first time in 2004 among a group of students because of their activities in the University. He was later released but arrested a second time on March 19, 2006, with 7 other young activists that were involved on the peaceful youth democratic movement.

Status: Political prisoner

Born in 1954 in Dayr al-Zor, Riad Hammod Drar is a married father of 3 sons and 3 daughters, an Islamic researcher and an activist in the Committee for the Survival of Civil Society in Syria. On June 4, 2005, he was arrested by the political security services in Dayr al-Zor. He has since been sentenced by the Syrian Supreme Security Courts to 5 years in prison.

The day before his arrest he made a speech during the funeral of Sheikh Mohammad Mashoq al-Khaznawi in al-Qamishli, in which he called for national unity, freedom, and democracy. He was also the head of the National Democratic Dialog Conference in Dayr al-Zor which took place on 20 May 2005.

Status: Political prisoner

Born in Hamah in 1959, hardness test blocks Anwar al-Bunni is a married father of 2 sons and a daughter, and a prominent Syrian human rights lawyer. Following the arrests of his older brother Youssef in 1977, and then his sister Sahar and brothers Kbrahim and Akram in 1978, Mr. Bunni chose to be a lawyer to defend political prisoners. He graduated from the faculty of Law at Damascus University in 1985, the same year that his two brothers, Akram and Youssef, and his sister Sahar were re-arrested.

Since finishing law school, he has worked on the cases of political prisoners and has been threatened many times with arrest. In July 2001 he participated in the establishment of the Human Rights Association in Syria, and was subsequently elected as a member of its board in 2003. At the beginning of 2005 he participated with others in establishing the Freedom Center for the Defense of Journalists and Journalism in Syria as its spokesperson.

Mr. Bunni was arrested on May 17, 2006 by the State Security Court with 9 other activists who were signatories of the Damascus-Beirut Declaration. He has been charged according to Article 286 of the Syrian Penal Law which stipulates the temporary detention of: 1) a person who transferred news that he knows is false and could weaken nationalist sensibilities and 2) that the person is entitled to receive a 3 month relief on his detention if he thought the information to be true.

On April 24, 2007, Mr. Bunni was found guilty of "spreading false or exaggerated news that weakens the spirit of the nation" by the First Damascus Criminal court. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison for this crime, and he was ordered to pay $2,000 to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor for being a member in an unlicensed human rights organization.

Reports indicate that he has faced ill-treatment at Adra prison and has been beaten by other criminal prisoners with whom he cohabitates.

Status: Political prisoner

A 49-year-old father of three, Dr. Kamal al-Labwani is a respected member of the Syrian political opposition. He is the founder of the Liberal Democratic Union in Syria, a non-violent political party that calls for democratic reforms. Having already served time in solitary confinement in a Syrian prison between 2001 and 2004 following his participation in the 'Damascus Spring,' Dr. Labwani was arrested a second time by authorities on November 8, 2005 at Damascus International Airport upon his return from a trip abroad.

Dr. Labwani has not been allowed regular access to a lawyer or free and unsupervised contact with his family, and has reportedly been abused in prison by guards and other prisoners. While he is allowed weekly visits with his family, these visits are supervised and the conversations are controlled by the guards. He is also separated from his family by two sets of bars.

Status: Political prisoner

A democracy activist, widely-respected journalist, and father, Michel Kilo, age 67 years, was arrested by Syrian authorities in the days preceding May 15, 2006. He is known for his views in support of a home-grown opposition movement to the Assad regime, focusing primarily on opening up the political atmosphere to a variety of dissenting view points.

It is widely believed that Mr. Kilo was arrested in response to his support of the "Beirut-Damascus Declaration," a moderate statement calling for improved relations between the Syrian and Lebanese governments. According to scholar Joshua Landis, Mr. Kilo has defined the "true nationalist" as "one who wants the best for his country even if it means telling painful truths."

In an article dated December 2006, Mr. Kilo wrote to a Lebanese newspaper explaining the circumstances of his arrest. His claims confirm earlier suspicions that he was arrested for expressing support for the "Beirut-Damascus Declaration." Since his arrest, government supported newspapers have published stories about him claiming that he is part of an international conspiracy to thwart the Syrian government. They have also assassinated his character by claiming that he was bribed to support the Declaration. No evidence has been provided supporting either claim.

Status: Political prisoner, ailing health

The former Dean of the Faculty of Economics of Aleppo University, 63-year-old Aref Dalilah was arrested in Damascus by Syrian security services on September 9, 2001 for his outspoken role in support of political and economic reforms during the brief "Damascus Spring" period following the inauguration of President Bashar al-Assad. He was later sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Supreme State Security Court.

Since he was put in prison, Mr. Dalilah has suffered from persistent health problems. In April 2002, he was removed from his cell to a hospital for deep vein thrombosis, but returned to prison without being treated. In 2004, Mr. Dalilah "suffer[ed] from high blood pressure and an irregular heart-beat" and was asked to undergo a heart bypass operation "but he refused to have one until he is released from prison."

Status: Released!

A 29-year-old sociology student, Kamal Sheikho is a prominent human rights activist in Syria. He is a member of the Committees for the Defense of Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights in Syria, a human rights group. Most recently, he was summoned by phone for interrogation at one of the intelligence branches in Damascus on February 17, 2007. Since then, nobody has been aware of his fate.

Status: Released!

A Kurdish political activist and father of a six-month old child, 53-year-old Mohammed Sheikh Ali (also, Mohammed Sheikhmos Aali, Muheddin Sheikh Ali) was abducted by al-Mukhabarat al-Askariyeh in Aleppo near the Baghdad Station on December 20, 2006.

Mr. Ali is the Secretary of the Unity Democratic Party, also known as Yakiti, which strives to secure cultural, social, political and linguistic recognition for the 1.5 million Kurds who reside in Syria but are denied citizenship. The Yakiti party is banned in Syria.

Status: Released!

Update: As of January 9, 2007, Mr. Shihabi has been released from prison according to the Syrian Human Rights Committee.

Author, journalist, and political activist Ali Sayed al-Shihabi, 50 years old, was arrested on August 10, 2006 during a visit to the State Security Services in Damascus. Mr. Shihabi has published two books in Syria and was planning to start a new political party in Syria called "Syria for All." He is currently being held at Adra prison and is reportedly to be charged with creating an unauthorized political organization and signing the Damascus Declaration, a call for improved ties between the Syrian and Lebanese governments.