DAMASCUS, Syria, May 25 (UPI) -- International human rights activists visiting Syria were snubbed by the interior, foreign affairs and justice ministers as well as by the public prosecutor.
The head of the delegation from the International Federation for Human Rights, Mohammed Zareh told United Press International Thursday "we could not meet any of the Syrian officials."
Zareh, who heads the Organization for Human and Prisoners' Rights in Egypt, said the team addressed requests and letters in advance to Syrian President Bashar Assad and the ministers informing them of their trip to Syria and requesting a meeting with them.
"We could not meet the minister of interior after the director of his office told us that we have to go through the foreign ministry first," Zareh said.
When the team headed to the foreign ministry it was informed that the office of the minister had no prior knowledge of their visit to Syria.
"We provided the minister's office all the information about us and we are waiting for a meeting to be set," Zareh said.
He pointed out that the team then headed to the palace of justice but could not meet the public prosecutor or the minister of justice because they were busy.
"We are trying to visit the prisons where the political prisoners are held in packed cells with criminals and this constitutes a violation of the rights of these prisoners," Zareh said.
He said the objective of the visit is to meet Syrian political and judicial officials to verify the true reasons behind the latest wave of arrests that targeted political activists for signing a political document.
Zareh was alluding to 10 activists who were rounded up in the past days for signing the so-called Beirut-Damascus Declaration which called for rectifying Lebanese-Syrian relations.
