Prominent Syrian lawyer and human rights activist Anwar Bunni was was detained within the current crackdown against opposition figures seeking better relations with Lebanon. His detention brings to 12 the number of activists held since Sunday in connection with the signing of a petition calling on Syria to recognize Lebanese independence and to demarcate borders between the two states, rights groups said Thursday.
"Security services arrested Anwar Bunni, director of the Syrian Center for Legal Studies, on Wednesday as part of a campaign of arrests targeting those who signed the Beirut-Damascus Declaration," the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria said, according to AFP.
"This is the worst campaign of repression since the crackdown that marked the end of the 'Damascus Spring' in 2001," Mohannad al-Hassani, president of Sawassiya, the Syrian Organization for Human Rights, told AFP.
It should be mentioned that Anwar Bunni's brother, Walid Bunni, who is also an opposition figure was released from jail earlier this year.
