Syria Arrests Top Businessman for 'Inciting Civil Disobedience'

Syrian authorities have arrested a prominent businessman and opposition figure on charges of inciting civil disobedience, a top human rights activist told Agence France Presse on Wednesday.

"Mohammad Bassam al-Malek, 65, was jailed on orders from the state prosecutor for inciting civil disobedience due to his role in a strike by merchants in May," activist Anwar Bunni said.

The strike was held in protest against the Houla massacre, when more than 100 people, many of them children and women, were slaughtered in central Syria, Bunni said.

U.N. investigators said last month they suspect pro-government forces of much of the killing in Houla, while the Syrian authorities have denied any involvement.

Malek owns several shops across Syria selling household appliances and is also a top member of the Coordination Committee for National Change and Democracy which is tolerated by the regime.