 Syrian security forces raided local offices of an Arab human rights group early Sunday and arrested its leader, according to a statement by the group. The Arab Organization for Human Rights said security forces broke into Mohammad Raadoun's office in Latakia and took him by force to one of the government's security agencies. In an e-mail sent to foreign news agencies, the organization appealed to "all honorable people to join us in our campaign to obtain the immediate release of Raadoun." There was not immediate comment from Syrian authorities.Since taking office in 2000, Syrian President Bashar Assad has released hundreds of political detainees. But he has also clamped down on pro-democracy activists, showing that he had limited tolerance for dissent. In March, Raadoun, a lawyer, was prevented from traveling to Egypt to attend a forum on Arab political reforms. The ban was connected to a sit-in the organization had planned a week earlier in downtown Damascus to protest an emergency law that has been in force since 1963. The organization, one of three human rights groups in Syria, monitors human rights violations in Syria and reports on cases of arrests and torture against activists and political prisoners. On Saturday, the group accused authorities of detaining six people on charges of belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement, and torturing one of them.| Does anyone here know anyting about the Arab Organization for Human Rights? |
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