Among the human rights defenders, writers and political activists are the following individuals:

76-year-old Ghassan Al Najar, engineer and union activist, who had been was detained in Syrian between 1980 and 1992. On 4 February 2011, Mr Al Najar was arrested at his home in Aleppo by security agents and again released on 15 February 2011 following a hunger strike. However, Mr Al Najar was accused of violating many articles of the Syrian Criminal Law. Charges included "spreading false news" an accusation which is commonly used to incriminate political activists. Mr Al Najar's next hearing before the Damascus Criminal Court will be on 11 April 2011.

Mr Anouar Faeq Muslim, aged 34 years,belongs to the country's Kurdish minority. Mr Muslim is a lawyer registered with Aleppo Bar Association since 2000 and he was a candidate to legislative elections in the Aleppo District in 2007. On 11 January 2011, Mr Muslim was summoned to the Aleppo branch of the Political Security where he was interrogated and immediately arrested without any official charge to date.

Ms Soheir Al Attassi, a human rights activist and President of the Atassi Forum, a Syrian political think-tank, participated in the aforementioned sit-in at Bab Tuma Square in Damascus on 2 February 2011. During the protest, the demonstrators were attacked and savagely beaten by persons in civilian clothing. They then went to the Bab Tuma police station to file a complaint against the attackers, but most of protesters were immediately expelled from the station. Ms Al Attassi herself was detained at the station for many hours where she was beaten again, humiliated and threatened with death before to be released the same day.

Mr Mohamed Firass Sayraouane, a student at Damascus University at the Faculty of Computer Sciences, was arrested on 17 February 2011 following his participation in a peaceful demonstration on Al Hareeka Square in Damascus. According to our information, he was severely beaten by four agents of the security services before being taken to an unknown place.

28-year-old Ahmed Mohamed Hozeifa, a well-known blogger, was arrested by Military Security on 19 February 2011, while on his way from Baniyas to Damascus. Mr Hozeifa was then detained incommunicado for five days before been released on 24 February 2011.

Mr Abdennasesser Al Ayed, a poet born in Deir Al Zur in 1975, was arrested on 4 February 2011. He was severely beaten by the State Security agents before being released on 10 February 2011.