On 29/9/2006, following a period of three months and a half in prison, Abdo Khalaf (65 years), a previous leading figure of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Syria was released by the Syrian Authorities due to deterioration in his health. 

On 20/9/2006, Dr. Mahmoud Sarim was also released after the SSSC agreed to release him on bail. It is also important to note that the poet and doctor Mahmoud Sarim (69 years) was detained on 19/9/2005 for making clear and expressing his general and political views. He was detained in an arbitrary manner and was held in Adra Prison, north of the Capital Damascus.

An activist in the civil society, Ahmed Haji Darweesh (47 years) was also released on 20/9/2006, days after his arrest.

The journalist Muhannad Abdul Rahman (25 years) was released on 23/9/2006 after being arrested by the Syrian Security in Rural Damascus on 7/9/2006 due to his journalistic activities.

On 25/9/2006, the  judge decided to release Mahmoud Issa, an activist in the communist party, Khalil Hussein, a leader of the Kurdish Future movement, and Suleiman Shamar, a member of the Labour Revolution Party on bail. The three were arrested in Mid-May due to signing the Damascus-Beirut Declaration, and their cases will continue whilst they are free.

Another activist, Mr. Bassam Badra (51 years) was released on 25/9/2006 and transferred to the Military Court in Homs where the case will continue whilst he is free. He is accused of degrading the President.

On 24/9/2005 the Kurdish citizen Walat Khalil Rasheed was also released from prison. He was originally sentenced to five years in prison, which was then reduced to two years and a half. He was released due to completing his sentence.

The Syrian Human Rights Committee (SHRC) views the arrests of those mentioned above and those that still languish in Syrian Regime Prisons as occurring in the best interest of supporting the oppressive policies of the Syrian regime and the emergency laws that have been operating in Syria for 43 years, as well as forbidding citizens from the rights and freedoms guaranteed to them by the Syrian Constitution. Therefore, SHRC calls upon the Syrian Authorities to release all political detainees and prisoners of conscience, to put an end to emergency laws, to stop all arbitrary arrests and respect the rules of the constitution in giving citizens their rights.

Syrian Human Rights Committee
29/9/2006