William Hague urged to raise issue of human rights during visit to Syria

27 January 2011 Release time: immediateUK Foreign Secretary, William Hague, has been urged by democracy campaigners not to avoid the issue of human rights during his official visit to Syria today, 27 January. In an open letter to the Foreign Secretary, Ribal Al Assad, Director of the Organisation for Democracy and Freedom in Syria, says: “I hope that during your talks with leaders of the Syrian regime you will raise the matter of arbitrary arrest and detention, particularly with regard to the many peaceful poets, bloggers and human rights lawyers that have suffered so much for their basic