Lawyers protest detention of 12 pro-democracy Syrian dissidents

A Syrian rights group said defense lawyers for 12 jailed Syrian dissidents claimed in a Wednesday court hearing that their clients' detention is illegal. The defendants are members of a coalition of pro-democracy groups known as the "Damascus Declaration." They were arrested in the months following a coalition meeting last December. Their trial started in July. Muhammad al-Hussni of the Syrian Organization for Human Rights said the lawyers submitted a document to the judge stipulating that the defendants committed "nothing illegal" and that their detention is "legally unjustified."