Syria releases prominent activist jailed for over 3 years

Prominent Syrian rights defender Mazen Darwish has been released after more than three years in prison pending a verdict in his case at the end of this month, his wife said Monday.

The director of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), he was arrested in the Syrian capital, Damascus, in February 2012 with two colleagues.

Mr Darwish has been standing trial on charges of “publicising terrorist acts”.

Darwish’s release was confirmed by other rights groups, including the Violations and Documentation Center and the Assyrian Network for Human Rights.

Mr Mazen – who has been awarded a number of worldwide prizes – is still facing trial and is due to attend a court hearing later this month.

Darwish was highly critical of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in March 2011.

“He has been freed ahead of a final verdict in his case on August 31”, Darwish’s wife Yara Bader told AFP.

Reporters Without Borders said in a statement that during his detention, Darwish was subjected to “mistreatment, torture, and enforced disappearance”. 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.

The release of Mazen Darwish appeared to be a goodwill gesture by Assad, whose government continues to hold thousands of political prisoners, according to human rights groups. Lakhdar Brahimi, the worldwide envoy to the Syria conflict pressed his call for a cease-fire with Syrian officials during a visit to Damascus on Saturday while violence continued throughout the country unabated. “His release today is long overdue, but comes as a welcome relief after three and half years of anguish and uncertainty”, said Said Boumedouha, chief of Amnesty’s Mideast and North Africa program.

Amnesty Worldwide stated Darwish ought to by no means have been jailed within the first place and referred to as on the federal government to halt its marketing campaign concentrating on those that dare converse concerning the “appalling human rights violations” in Syria.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called for the release of Darwish and his colleagues in a statement marking the third anniversary of his detention.