DAMASCUS, Syria, May 17 (UPI) -- Syrian authorities have launched an arrest campaign targeting political and human rights activists in which eight people have been detained in the past four days.
The head of the National Organization of Human Rights in Syria, Ammar Kurbi, told United Press International that four activists were arrested at dawn Wednesday and two others Tuesday night in addition to journalist Michel Kilo, held since Sunday.
The last to be seized Wednesday afternoon was Anwar Bunni, a lawyer and the spokesman for an assemblage which groups many political activists.
Kurbi said three other activists fear they will be arrested soon after they were summoned by one of the country's several security services.
He said among the detainees are Safwan Tayfour from the city of Hama and Mahmoud Issa, a political prisoner between 1992 and 2000. Both are believed to have been arrested for belonging to the outlawed Communist Action Party.
Also Khaled Hussein, a leading member in the Kurdish al-Mustaqbal Movement and a former member of the Communist Action Party was arrested, in addition to Abbas Abbas, also a former communist activist.
Kurbi pointed out that security forces arrested late Tuesday night the secretary of the Arab Organization for Human Rights, Mahmoud Merhi, and Nidal Darwish, another human rights activist.
Kurbi said the security authorities referred Kilo, a political writer, to the civilian judiciary after he was interrogated by an investigative judge for signing a document calling for the rectification of Lebanese-Syrian relations. The petition was also signed by 500 intellectuals from Lebanon and Syria.
Kurbi said that Kilo, who was transferred to a civilian prison, stood accused of inciting sectarian sentiments, publishing false information and undermining the dignity of the state and insulting officials.
He said that if convicted, Kilo could face an indefinite prison sentence or life imprisonment.
