July 6, 2010 - Now Lebanon - Amnesty International: At least 52 missing since 2008 Syria prison riot

More than 50 prisoners are still missing since riots at Syria's Saydnaya prison two years ago led to the deaths of at least 17 prisoners and five military police, Amnesty International said on Monday.

In a report marking the second anniversary of the July 5, 2008 riots at the prison north of Damascus, AI said it was stepping up a campaign "to uncover the truth about all of Saydnaya’s missing prisoners."

The Syrian authorities have blamed inmates for provoking the riots, for which a casualty toll was never released.

The London-based group said at least 52 detainees have gone missing since the riots and that "18 of the prisoners are victims of enforced disappearance, as defined by international law."

Their families and lawyers had been denied access to them and their fate is unknown, it added.

-AFP/NOW Lebanon