DAMASCUS, August 11, 2008 (MENASSAT) – On August 17, the Syrian authorities released professor Aref Dalila, 66, the only remaining prisoner of the Damascus Spring movement.

Dalila was released for health ressons. His health had recently deteriorated after he suffered a brain clot. Dalila went on hunger strike several times to protest to his solitary confinement.

Dalila, an economist, was arrested on September 9, 2001. He was one of the most renowned personalities in the Syrian opposition and civil society.

On July 31, 2002, the Higher National Security Court sentenced him to ten years in prison on the accusation of "fueling sectarian lashes, calling for armed rebellion, preventing the authorities from performing their duties, spreading erroneous news, and working on changing the constitution through illegal means."

His arrest and conviction was part of a crackdown against the Damascus Spring movement. The Damascus Spring was a period of intense political and social debate in Syria which started after the death of President Hafiz al-Asad in June 2000 and continued to some degree until autumn 2001, when most of the activities associated with it were suppressed by the government.

The Kurdish Association for Human Rights and Freedoms in Syrian (DAD), while welcoming the release of Dalila, asked the Syrian authorities to stop the arbitrary arrests which violate the international laws and conventions Syrian signed and pledged to apply and follow. It also demanded that the Syrian authorities fulfill their commitments and release all the opinion and expression prisoners locked away in the Syrian prisons, scrap all exceptional laws and trials (military courts, the Higher National Security Court), and cancel emergency state and martial laws.

Twenty-six Syrian, Arab and international rights associations had signed a statement demanding the release of Dalila.

Aref Dalila was born in Latakia, Syria, in 1940. He holds a Doctorate in Economics from Moscow University. He was dean of Economics and Trade at Damascus University before being dismissed in 1998.

(Mohieddine Isso)