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Syria locks up two human rights activists
 Syrian authorities recently arrested two human rights activists, one of whom was allegedly detained for speaking at a memorial service for a slain Kurdish cleric, rights groups said. Riad Arrar was arrested Saturday in northeast Syria "for having given a short speech at a ceremony honoring the memory of Sheikh Maashuq Khaznawi," said the Syrian Centre for Legal Studies. Khaznawi, a popular Kurdish Islamic figure, was abducted and murdered last month by what the Syrian government later called a "criminal gang." Khaznawi's followers suspected the Syrian government was behind the kidnapping and said his body showed "signs of torture."A second man, Hassan Dib, was arrested in the north for "unknown reasons" said the Syrian Centre for Legal Studies and the Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR). Posted by: Fred 2005-06-06 |
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