Damascus (ANTARA News/AFP) - Syrian authorities have freed six Syrian opposition figures, including five arrested in a crackdown on protests, a human rights lawyer and a rights group said on Tuesday.

Three opposition figures -- author Fayez Sara, communist party leader Georges Sabra and activist Kamal Sheikho, were released on Tuesday, the lawyer, Michel Shammas, said.

Sabra was arrested on April 10 and the following day Sara was seized while Sheikho had been jailed since March 16, he said.

They were each released on bail of $100 (70 euros), Shammas said.

Prominent lawyer Hassan Abdel Azim, 80, and journalist Hazem al-Nahar were freed on Monday night, he added.

Abdel Azim is secretary general of the Arab Socialist Union party and spokesman for the National Democratic Rally, left-leaning opposition parties.

Meanwhile prominent opposition figure Habib Saleh was freed Sunday after spending three years in jails on charges of spreading lies, the head of the National Organisation for Human Rights, Ammar Qorabi, told AFP.

Saleh had been arrested in May 2008 after publishing an article calling for political reforms in Syria.

Between 600 and 700 people have been killed and at least 8,000 arrested since the start of an anti-regime protest movement in mid-March, according to rights groups. (*)

Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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