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Syrian releases rights activist Mazen Darwish

August 10, 2015

Syrian lawyer and human rights defender Mazen Darwish has been freed from prison after more than three years. He was a vocal critic of the regime's crackdown on the pro-democracy protests that erupted in 2011.

https://p.dw.com/p/1GCm8
Mazen Darwish Photo: free-syrian-voices.org
Image: free-syrian-voices.org

Mazen Darwish was the director of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression when he and two of his colleagues were arrested in February 2012. The organization confirmed his release on Monday. He was being held on charges of "publicizing terrorist acts." Darwish's colleagues Hussein Ghreir and Hani al-Zaitani were released last month in an amnesty announced as a gesture for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

"He has been freed ahead of a final verdict in his case on August 21," Darwish's wife, Yara Bader, said.

The Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression confirmed his release, saying in a statement on Monday that "after an arbitrary arrest that lasted three years, five months, and 23 days, Mazen Darwish has released from prison today."

Darwish was highly critical of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in March 2011. After the government's use of massive force against demonstrators, protests spiraled out of control and, eventually, led to the civil war that, according to the United Nations, has claimed some 250,000 lives and displaced millions of people.

International human rights organizations have long called on the Syrian government to release Darwish. He has received multiple awards in acknowledgement of his work, including UNESCO's annual press freedom prize in May.

"We need a time to learn how to listen to people who have different opinions," Bader said when receiving the award on his behalf. "Mazen has already forgiven those who tortured him almost to death."

Some 200,000 people are held in Syrian government detention centers, prisons and security facilities, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based watch-dog.

sms/rc (AP, AFP)