Syria jails elderly lawyer Maleh for 3 years

Damascus: A Syrian military court sentenced on Sunday 79-year-old lawyer Haitham Maleh who campaigned for decades for an end to emergency law, jailing him for three years on charges of "weakening national morale", defence lawyers said.

"This is tragic. Haitham Maleh is an old and ill man," one of the lawyers said.

Maleh, who spent six years as a political prisoner in the 1980s and was banned from leaving Syria, was awarded the Dutch Geuzen Medal in 2006, named after resistance fighters against the Nazis. Numerous international organisations and Western governments have been calling for his release.

Maleh was arrested last year after he stepped up criticism of corruption and the emergency law, which was imposed by the ruling Baath Party after it took power in 1963, banning any opposition.

His sentencing came two weeks after Mohannad Al Hassani, a 43-year-old lawyer, was also jailed for three years on the same charges. "Mohannad is young and can take three harsh years in jail. The chances that Maleh can live through them are slim," another lawyer said.