Ali al-Abdallah

Who is Ali al-Abdallah?

Ali al-Abdallah is a Syrian writer and human rights activist.

He was arrested in Syria in March 2006. He was again arrested and jailed during 2007 after trying to revive the Damascus Declaration, a rights movement named after a 2005 document that demanded that bans on freedom of speech and assembly be lifted and Syria's emergency law abolished. He was released from Adra Prison on June 23, 2010, and re-imprisoned one day later for writing an article that was critical of Syria's ties with Iran. A Syrian military court charged him with weakening national morale. The United States asked Syria to free him.

Amnesty International declared him a prisoner of conscience, "held solely for the peaceful expression of his beliefs", and called for his immediate release.