The United States on Monday renewed calls for Syrian authorities to release human-rights activist and journalist Mazen Darwish amid concerns for his safety. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland made the appeal as she highlighted the case of Darwish as part of a U.S. “free the press” campaign ahead of International Press Freedom Day on May 3. “The Syrian government has held Darwish incommunicado since security forces raided his offices on February 16th,” Nuland told reporters. “We are very concerned that he could be the subject of torture, abuse, or other inhuman treatment.” “We take this opportunity to call on the Syrian government to release Darwish and other journalists that it has imprisoned, as well as all political prisoners, in keeping with the six-point Annan plan,” Nuland said, referring to the peace plan by joint U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan. Darwish is the president of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, the only Syrian organization specializing in media monitoring and internet access.
