Syria Sentences Democracy Activists

[Ghost in the Machine]

Published: 5/14/07, 12:45 AM EDT
By ZEINA KARAM
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - A Syrian court sentenced four pro-democracy campaigners, including one of Syria's most respected writers, to prison terms Sunday as part of President's Bashar Assad's latest crack down on dissent.

"We are not criminals, we are patriotic people," said writer Michel Kilo from behind bars after Judge Zaher al-Bakri of the Damascus Criminal Court read out the verdict.

He and Mahmoud Issa, a translator, were convicted and then sentenced to three years in prison each for spreading false news, weakening national feeling and inciting sectarian sentiments. Two other activists, Suleiman Shummar and Khalil Hussein, were sentenced in absentia for 10 years in jail on similar charges.

The rulings bring to six the number of government critics and human rights campaigners to be convicted and sentenced in the last month, despite American and European calls for Assad to stop harassing activists and release political prisoners.

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