Reporters Without Borders calls on Syrian president for release of journalism student

Reporters Without Borders has called on Syrian President Bashir Assad to immediately release Massud Hamid, student in journalism and photographer, who has been held incommunicado since 24 July 2003 in Adra Prison, near Damascus. The international press freedom organisation also said in a letter to the president that it was extremely concerned about his physical and mental health and feared he has suffered ill-treatment in prison. "The time has come for the Baath Party, which in a few weeks marks the 41st anniversary of its time in power, to finally allow the Internet and press freedom to flourish in Syria," said the organisation. "The authorities can no longer turn a deaf ear to the growing and legitimate aspirations within Syrian Society demanding wide-ranging political reforms, nor pretend not to know that the regional and historical context has considerably changed." "The state monopoly of radio and television, the total control of news and information, the imprisoning of Internet-users and journalists are practices that are destined to disappear. The release of Massud Hamid should be the first sign that promised changes are finally going to be put into effect", it said. Police arrested Hamid, aged 29 and a member of Syria's Kurdish minority on 24 July 2003, in the middle of an exam at Damascus University. Witnesses told Reporters Without Borders that the manner of his arrest, in which he was handcuffed in front of a large number of students appeared deliberately intended to intimidate prospective journalists. Hamid was arrested one month after photos which he took on 25 June 2003 during a peaceful Kurdish protest in front of the Unicef offices in Damascus were posted on the Kurdish-language site : www.amude.com. Accused of "membership of an illegal organisation" he should appear before the State Security Court", a military tribunal notorious for the unfairness of both its procedures and verdicts. Hamid has not been allowed to receive any visits, apart from a brief ten-minute meeting with a member of his family who reported having seen evidence that he had been tortured. Amnesty International has confirmed that it believes him to have suffered ill-treatment and condemns the regular use of torture of prisoners of opinion in Syria. The German-based Kurdish language site www.amude.com is mainly devoted to Kurdish identity and culture. It gets up to 5,000 hits a day.