Nicolas Henin, a reporter’s blog

I heard recently several human rights activists campaigning for the release of jailed opponents in Syria. Those who have signed the «Beirut-Damascus declaration», appealing for a renewal of the Syrian-Lebanese relationship, have been particularly targeted in the last weeks by the Syrian security services.

I had the chance to meet some of the key leaders of this Syrian opposition (namely Riyad Seif and Anwar al-Bunni) during one of my trips to Damascus some time ago. They are deeply Syrian –not traitors or spies- and they want nothing but the improvement of the political life in their country. They constitute a rich ground for a modern civil society.

But talking about political prisoners, what about Syrian Arab neighbours ?

I found old but very interesting figures on Syriacomment.com, a comprehensive blog written by Joshua Landis and dedicated to the Syrian politics, history and religion.
This blog reports that the Syrian human rights defenders themselves estimate to around 200 the number of political detainees. Around 180 of them are Kurdish militants (territorial integrity is a key issue in Syria as well as in many countries in the region).

Yesterday, I read in the news that Egypt arrested another 70 persons charged to be linked with the muslim brotherhood, a body that is officially prohibited under the Egyptian state of emergency rule, even if it is somehow tolerated. In total, up to 30,000 opponents are reported jailed for political purposes in Egypt. Landis elaborates: ‘Amnesty International claims: “Torture is systematically practised in detention centres throughout Egypt, and victims of torture and their relatives continued to report harassment by security agents. The death penalty continued to be used extensively by criminal courts”.’
Landis reviews the neighbouring countries (most of them allies to the West) – Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia. All of them hold many opponents in prison. And all of them practice torture.

This said, yes, I ask the Syrian governement to release the political prisoners it keeps in the country, especially in this infamous jail in the outskirts of Palmyra. But the human rights of a Syrian are the same as the human rights of an Egyptian or an Iraqi. Human rights campaigners must not be the tools of an unbalanced international politicy.