Amnesty condemns internet arrests

HUMAN rights watchdog Amnesty International is urging Syria to release five people who, it said, were arrested for expressing themselves on the Internet.

Abdel Rahman al-Shaghouri was arrested in February 2003 for the electronic mailing of articles he had lifted from a British website which is banned in Syria.

He was charged with spreading “false and exaggerated news that sap the morale of the nation”. Amnesty International called for al-Shaghouri’s “immediate and unconditional release”.