10 March 2004
State Dept. Protests Syria's Detention of U.S. Diplomat
Answer to question taken at March 9 briefing
Following is the official answer to a question taken at the March 9 regular State Department briefing; the answer was posted later in the day:
(begin text)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
March 9, 2004
QUESTION TAKEN AT MARCH 9, 2004 DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
SYRIA
Question: Has the Government of Syria provided an explanation for detaining a U.S. diplomat, and are we satisfied with it?
Answer: Our Ambassador in Damascus formally protested in the strongest terms the March 8 arrest of a U.S. diplomat, who was simply observing a peaceful demonstration. The detention of diplomats, no matter how brief, is a clear violation of the Vienna Conventions and is not acceptable. The Department in Washington has been in contact with the Syrian Ambassador in DC to protest this incident and express concern over Syrian actions against those peacefully demonstrating for their freedom of expression.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry took note of the protest. We are awaiting a formal response from the Syrian government.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2004&m=March&x=20040310094006ESnamfuaK0.1202814&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html
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