Syria released a leading communist dissident after...

Syria released a leading communist dissident after 27 years in jail because of serious health problems, human rights lawyers said.
Haitham Naa'l, a member of the disbanded Arab Communist Organisation in Syria, was sentenced by a state security court to life imprisonment for plotting sabotage attacks against the interests of a Western country in Damascus. Five other members of the group were sentenced to death and executed.
Aktham Naesa, head of the Committees for Defence of Human Rights, told Reuters that Naa'l, 51, was freed on August 9. He was the longest serving political detainee in Syria, the BBC said.
No immediate comment was available from the authorities or Naa'l.
Human rights lawyer Anwar al-Bunni told Reuters Naa'l was released because he suffered serious health complications.
"He has a heart disease, an ulcer and doctors also fear he has prostate cancer," he said.
Naesa described the release as a "positive but incomplete" step, urging the Syrian authorities to free two other prisoners who were jailed with Naa'l and 10 other political dissidents arrested and convicted over the past year.
"Only the release of all the prisoners can indicate a real breakthrough and a real respect of human rights in Syria," he said.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's second year in office has seen an attack on already restricted civil liberties despite promises of liberalisation he made when he came to power after three decades of iron rule by his late father Hafez al-Assad.
Ten Syrian dissidents have been tried and jailed, among them two parliamentary deputies, two lawyers, two doctors, an economist, a teacher, an engineer and a businessman.
Those dissidents were found guilty of undermining the constitution and defaming the state through their speeches and political debates. Several of the jailed dissidents were active in political debate clubs but none had preached violence.
Analysts attribute the crackdown to pressure from an old guard in the ruling Ba'ath party and security services.