Syria arrests opposition writer Mustafa Ismail

Beirut - Syrian authorities over the weekend arrested Kurdish poet, lawyer and writer Mustafa Ismail after summoning him to their security branches in Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory Human Rights reported on Tuesday. In a statement on their website, the rights organization said the reasons for the arrest remain unknown, but sources in Beirut said that it might have been linked to something Ismail wrote on an Arab website.

Syrian human rights organizations expressed concern over the arrest, which they said was a clear violation of articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

"Arbitrary detention in all its forms constitutes a main threat to the rights of freedom and personal safety," the statement said.