Syria rejects early release of leading dissident

Damascus: A human rights activist says Syria has rejected the early release of one the country's most prominent detainees.

Michel Kilo was detained in May 2006 and is serving a three-year sentence for spreading false news, weakening national feeling and inciting sectarian sentiments.

Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria, says a Syrian court yesterday rejected his early release. He's calling on the court to review its decision and says it was politically motivated. Qurabi says that according to Syrian law, prisoners with good conduct can be acquitted after serving three-quarters of their sentence.