MADE 'YA BLINK:

Syria frees political prisoners (BBC, 11/03/05)

Syria has freed 190 political prisoners, including two prominent human rights activists.

Mohammed Raadoun and Ali Abdullah had been in prison since May. [...]

Last June, opposition figures and prominent intellectuals signed a letter urging the president to free political prisoners.

They also called for the abolition of Syria's 42-year-old emergency law, which activists say permits arbitrary arrests and trials.

President Assad issued the amnesty "in line with the comprehensive reform policy that aims at consolidating national cohesiveness, which is fundamental to the social fabric and national interests," Sana reported.

The agency also said that further steps and measures would follow "on the basis that the homeland embraces all".

Keep pummeling the body and eventually the arms drop--then you go for the head.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 3, 2005 10:13 AM