DAMASCUS, Syria, May 24 (UPI) -- Syrian human right and political activists rounded up in the past days were denied access to defense lawyers although they were referred to trial.
Abdel Karim Rihawi, head of the Syrian Organization for Human Rights, told United Press International Wednesday "the Syrian authorities prevented today and yesterday the lawyers appointed by the 10 detained activists from meeting their clients."
The authorities arrested 13 activists for signing the Beirut-Damascus Declaration, an unofficial document calling for the rectification of Lebanese-Syrian relations, but released three later on. Some 400 intellectuals from Lebanon and Syria signed the document.
"The lawyers who were officially appointed by the detainees to defend them were prevented from visiting their clients in Adra prison, a move that contradicts the basic rights of political prisoners," Rihawi said.
Rihawi called on the Syrian authorities to "respect and abide by the minimum rules of prisoners' rights upheld by international treaties and the declaration of human rights."
He also revealed that a delegation from the International Federation for Human Rights was visiting Syria and will meet Syrian officials and official and non-official human rights figures to investigate the conditions of political prisoners and development of human rights.
