Syrian authorities arrest opposition figure

[April 20, 2011]  BEIRUT (AP) -- Syrian authorities arrested a leftist opposition figure at his home during an overnight raid, hours after the government announced an end to nearly 50 years of emergency rule, Syrian rights activists said Wednesday.

Syrian Human Rights League chief, Abdul-Karim Rihawi, said security agents picked up Mahmoud Issa from his home in the central city of Homs after an interview he gave to Al-Jazeera satellite TV late Tuesday.

He said his "arbitrary arrest is in line with the state of emergency rule" and said he expected him to be released after President Assad signs the decree formally abolishing the emergency rule.

The reviled legislation, in place since Assad's ruling Baath Party came to power in 1963, gave the regime a free hand to arrest people without any charges.

Despite its repeal, defiant anti-government protesters accuse Assad of buying time and clinging to power in one of the most repressive Mideast regimes.

Rights activist Mazen Darwish said the interview Issa gave to Al-Jazeera angered relatives of a Syrian brigadier general who was killed along with his two sons and a nephew Sunday in Homs.

The government says they were gunned down by "armed gangs" that authorities blame for the violence during anti-government protests of the past month.

Darwish said Issa, in the interview, said he didn't know who was behind the killing and called for an investigation, enraging bereaved relatives who reportedly threatened Issa before alerting the police.

Issa, who spent years in prison for his pro-democracy views, was picked up from his home shortly afterward.

Syria has witnessed monthlong anti-government protests that have shaken Assad's authoritarian regime. At least 200 people have been killed as the government cracked down on the protesters.

Repealing the state of emergency, which gives authorities almost boundless powers of surveillance and arrest, was once the key demand of the uprising.

But the protest movement has crossed a significant threshold, with increasing numbers now seeking nothing less than the downfall of the regime.

The rejection by protesters of the lifting of emergency rule could pose a make-or-break moment for Assad, a British-trained eye doctor who took power 11 years ago but has failed to fulfill early promises of reform.

[Associated Press; By ZEINA KARAM]

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