Human Rights Watch called for the immediate release of Syrian dissident Faeq al-Mir on Wednesday who was arrested last year after he telephoned Lebanese leftist Elias Atallah to express his condolences over the murder of fellow anti-Syrian Lebanese politician Pierre Gemayel.The plea came as a Damascus court prepared to deliver its verdict in a case that could see him jailed for life. The New York-based human rights watchdog appealed to the court to dismiss what it called "politically motivated charges" against Miir for contacting a Lebanese politician who is part of the country's anti-Syrian governing coalition. "Syria's arrest and prosecution of Faeq al-Mir reveals the government's intolerance for even the slightest hint of opposition," said the watchdog's Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson. "Mir faces the possibility of life in prison or even execution for phoning a Lebanese opponent of Syria's policies there."
Mir, who is a leader of the leftist People's Democratic Party, was arrested in his hometown of Latakia in December last year after he telephoned Atallah to express his condolences over the assassination of Gemayel. He is charged with "undertaking acts that weaken national sentiment" and "communicating with a foreign country to incite it to initiate aggression against Syria or to provide it with the means to do so." The latter charge carries a potential life sentence.