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Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-schenker10-2009mar10,0,3521865.story
Obama Facing Human Rights Challenge in Syria
[Los Angeles Times] David Schenker - Syria's leading dissident is on his deathbed. Riad Seif, 62 and suffering from cancer, has spent the last year in Adra prison as punishment for attending a meeting of pro-democracy groups in Damascus. Seif is the most respected member of Syria's dwindling secular, democratic opposition to the iron-fisted rule of Assad and his Alawite clan. A former member of parliament, Seif devoted much of the last two decades to criticizing the Assad regime. As the Obama administration prepares to resume diplomatic engagement with Damascus, his plight is a poignant reminder of the abysmal state of human rights in Syria. The writer is director of the program on Arab politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.