PARIS, April 27 (KUNA) -- Press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders (RWB) on Friday heavily criticized the Syrian regime for its treatment of the press and for its arrest and harassment of journalists.
"We call for the immediate release of all the professional journalists, citizen journalists and bloggers jailed by the regime," Reporters Without Borders said in a statement here.
"The Syrian authorities have undertaken to carry out Kofi Annan's peace plan, which envisages the release of all prisoners of conscience. It is high time the authorities kept their promises," the statement added.
The press freedom body remarked that United Nations observers are meeting "considerable difficulty" in carrying out their mission in Syria and it drew attention to "the Assad regime's many violations of freedom of information, which include jailing those who have the courage to inform us about the situation in Syria." RWB particularly noted the case of Yara Michel Shammas, a 21-year-old arrested March seventh in a raid that included detention of eleven other activists.
Shammas faces a death penalty under Syrian law after fresh charges were brought in this case after almost two months of detention.
"Reporters Without Borders continues to be very concerned about Ali Mahmud Othman, a Homs-based citizen journalist and resistance figure, who was detained in Aleppo on March 28th," the statement remarked, claiming Othman is now being held by the intelligence services in Damascus and is being subjected to "appalling forms of torture." RWB also raised the cases of numerous other journalists and activists for human rights, who are being held by the intelligence services.
It also published a list of the many others missing and feared either dead or detained in secret in Syria. (end) jk.gta KUNA 271405 Apr 12NNNN