DAMASCUS: Human rights groups from Syria and abroad on Sunday appealed for President Bashar Al-Assad to release a 79-year-old prominent rights lawyer and activist jailed for "publishing false information."
They expressed "deep concern over the deteriorating health of Haytham Al-Maleh, 79, who is being held in Adra prison in Damascus despite the serious health problems endangering his life," they said in a joint statement.
Earlier this month, Maleh was sentenced by a Syrian court to three years in prison on charges of "publishing false information that could weaken national morale," in a ruling that drew condemnation from the West.
The rights groups called for Assad "to intervene rapidly to release Maleh in a special presidential decree" to mark his 10 years in power.
"We also expect the Syrian government to take positive measures to respect and strengthen human rights by decreeing a general amnesty for all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience," the statement read.
Maleh, who has worked for Amnesty International since 1989 and was involved in founding a Syrian rights group, was arrested on October 14 and questioned in a military tribunal over articles he had written.
He was already held behind bars between 1980 and 1986 along with a large number of trade union and opposition figures for issuing a call for constitutional reforms.
The United States, France and Germany have issued calls for his release.
Among almost 30 groups which petitioned Assad were the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Syrian League for the Defense of Human Rights, as well as organizations based in Bahrain, Belgium, Egypt, France, Jordan and Sweden.
