Ribal Al-Assad calls on the Syrian regime to act on Freedom House report

Freedom House has identified the Syrian regime as one of the world's worst human rights abusers in its annual "Freedom in the World" report titled, "Worst of the Worst 2010: The World’s Most Repressive Societies," The report scores countries on political and civil rights(based on a 1 to 7 scale, with 1 representing the most free and 7 representing the least free). The Syrian regime along with eight other countries scored 7 for political rights and 6 for civil rights making it one world's "worst of the worst" human rights violators.

Freedom House stated that in Syria "freedoms of expression, association, and assembly remained tightly restricted throughout 2009, especially with regard to certain groups, such as the Kurdish minority. Leading human rights figures within Syria were jailed or faced new charges of “weakening national morale” or “spreading false information" during the year. The state of emergency in force since 1963 gives security agencies virtually unlimited authority to arrest suspects and hold them incommunicado for prolonged periods without charge. Many of the estimated 2,500 to 3,000 political prisoners in Syria have never been tried. Regime officials and their families benefit from a range of illicit economic activities."

Commenting on the report, ODFS Director Ribal Al-Assad said:

"Freedom House's report shows just how repressive the Syrian regime is. This state of affairs cannot continue. I call on the Syrian regime to lift the state of emergency immediately and fulfil all of its international human rights obligations. There must be an end to state corruption and the regime must move towards peaceful and transitional democratic reform."