Sunday
May192013
Syria Feature: Rights Activists On Trial Today in Damascus
Sunday, May 19, 2013 at 6:47 | Scott Lucas in EA Live, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran
Five leading activists of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, accused of promoting terrorism, stand trial on Sunday at the Counter Terrorism Criminal Court in Damascus.
The five men --- Mazen Darwish, Hussein Gharir, Hani Zaitani, Mohammad Mansur Al-Omari and Abdul-Rahman Hamada --- were arrested on 16 February 2012 during a raid of the Centre's premises. Since then, they have often been kept in solitary detention, denied access to their relatives and lawyers, and subjected to torture and ill-treatment.