Concern over Health of Detained Syrian Journalist

Detained Syrian human rights activist and journalist Mazen Darwish is suffering from a "worsening health condition," the Syrian Journalists Union said in a statement on Wednesday.

Darwish, who heads the Syrian Center for Media Freedom and Expression, has been held in solitary confinement by Air Force intelligence since his detention on February 16, the statement added.

It did not elaborate on his health.

"The Syrian Journalists Union condemns and strongly denounces the arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance of journalist Mazen Darwish," the statement said.

It also denounced the continued detention of four of his colleagues.

In February, Darwish was detained alongside 13 others, after the Syrian Centre for Media Freedom and Expression's office in central Damascus was raided by the Syrian security forces, backed by armed agents.

Only some of the center’s workers have since been released.

Darwish has been detained a number of times, most recently in March of last year, when he was held for a day after speaking out against the government crackdown on the southern province of Daraa, cradle of the 13-month revolt against the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

His group is the only Syrian organization specializing in media monitoring and Internet access, and has an advisory role at the UN Economic and Social Council, or ECOSOC.

Officially shut down by the authorities four years go, he has kept his center running without authorization.