Mazen Darwish

Darwish was released from prison on 10 August 2015, although the charges were not dropped and he was scheduled to appear at a court hearing on 31 August 2015. On 31 August 2015 all charges against Darwish were dropped by an anti-terrorism court in Damascus. The court ruled that Darwish and his co-defendants are covered under a political amnesty issued in 2014.

Mazen Darwish (Arabic: مازن درويش ‎) is a Syrian lawyer and free speech advocate. He is the president of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (CMFE). News organizations including Reuters and the Associated Press have described him as one of Syria's most prominent activists. He was imprisoned in Syria from 2012 until his release in August 2015.

Darwish was arrested on 16 February 2012 by men believed to be from the intelligence arm of the Syrian Air Force. Fifteen other journalists and activists were arrested on the same day, including blogger Razan Ghazzawi and Darwish's wife, journalist Yara Bader. While Bader was released in May, Darwish was subject to forced disappearance with no official statements of his whereabouts or status. The Switzerland-based International Commission of Jurists reported in August that Darwish was being tried before a secret military court and could face a death sentence with no appeal.

He also reported on clashes in Daraa in early 2011, during the beginning stages of the Syrian Civil War. In March, he participated in a protest calling for political prisoners to be released, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that he was arrested shortly after.

In April 2008, Darwish and a colleague were arrested after their reporting on riots in Adra, a town near Damascus. He was later imprisoned for ten days for "defaming and insulting the administrative bodies of the state." Thirty-five international press freedom organizations co-signed a letter protesting the sentence, describing it as part of "an ongoing pattern of harassment and detention of journalists and activists." Darwish has also been subject to travel bans to prevent him from leaving the country.

Darwish is the president of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (CMFE), a partner organization of Reporters Without Borders founded in 2004. The organization was refused accreditation by the Syrian government but continues to operate in secret. In 2006, the group launched an independent news website, syriaview.net, but the site was soon banned by the Syrian government.