DAMASCUS, Syria, May 30 (UPI) -- Syrian authorities have arrested two political and human rights activists as part of an ongoing campaign to crack down on public freedoms.
The Syrian Organization of Human Rights said Monday in a statement that police had seized Mohammed Hassan Deeb in the province of Hama in central Syria, and Habib Saleh from the port city of Tartous.
Saleh was arrested just nine months after being released from detention. Deeb had also been held in the past for political reasons, said the statement, which strongly denounced "the organized campaign against the activists of civilian society and the defenders of human rights."
It also warned that the campaign would "take the country back to the authoritarian atmosphere that prevailed in the eighties."
The organization urged the authorities to release all political prisoners and respect international treaties and conventions on human rights.
Several Syrian activists have been rounded up in recent weeks.
