DAMASCUS (AFP) — Twelve Syrian dissidents went on trial on Wednesday for signing a declaration calling for democracy in Syria in what a human rights group said was the biggest such case in seven years.
The 12 denied all charges, which include harming the state and spreading false information, when they appeared in a Damascus court, the National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria (NOHRS).
"They rejected all accusations made against them and stressed that the Damascus Declaration was not an undertaking (carried out) in a secret manner and that its aim was to defend the homeland," it said in a statement.
It is the biggest collective trial of Syrian dissidents since 2001 after the so-called Damascus Spring, the brief period of relative freedom of expression that followed President Bashar al-Assad's rise to power in 2000.
The court adjourned the case until August 26.
Among those being tried are Fidaa Horani, president of the national council of the Damascus Declaration, writer Ali Abdallah, doctor Walid Bunni, writer and secretary of the national council Akram Bunni and former MP Riad Seif.
The 12 are charged with "spreading false information which weakens the morale of the nation and national sentiment, joining a secret organisation with the aim of modifying the nation's political and economic status, inciting racial and sectarian dissent and harming the state," according to Syrian non-governmental organisations.
In 2005, secular Syrian opposition parties and the London-based Muslim Brotherhood signed a founding text entitled the "Declaration of Damascus" which called for "a democratic and radical change."
A national council was formed in Syria last December but since then 15 of its members have been arrested, with two being released earlier this month and 12 of the remaining 13 being taken to court on Wednesday.
Several lawyers and Western diplomats attended the trial opening.
The NOHRS called on the authorities "immediately to release all detainees" in Syria and "halt proceedings against them so as to consolidate national unity and preserve citizens' rights to free speech guaranteed by Syria's constitution and the international human rights charter.
Another rights group, the Syrian League for the Defence of Human Rights, denounced the trial of political activists and also called for their immediate release.
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