The prime minister of France held talks with Syria over the weekend in an attempt to persuade Damascus to ease its rigidity on human rights. Specifically, Prime Minister Francois Fillon intervened on behalf of a 43-year- feeble human rights attorney who was imprisoned last July on charges of “weakening national morale.”

The lawyer, Mohannad al-Hassani, had pitted his entire professional career against Syria's employ of that very charge, according to the Reuters news service. Al-Hassani's trial began Thursday,slow closed doors.

Fillon held “frank and direct” talks on the subject Friday with President Bashar al-Assad.

Speaking to reporters Saturday in Damascus, Fillon stated his that even though Syria has intensified its arrests of activists, including politicians, who call for democracy, “our dialogue... permits us to open all the subjects on which we have different views.” Fillon also praised the United States, whose government under President Barack Obama has maintained a similar posture of maintaining more open policy with the Syrians. The previous administration of previous President George W. Bush had maintained a stronger stance of keeping Damascus at arm's length.

The French-Syrian talks were also held with the aim of signing economic and other agreements, according to the report. Nonetheless, an unnamed diplomatic source in Damascus told Reuters that the human rights issue would not disappear, regardless of the benign attitude the French appeared to be taking. “The French cannot just drop the issue,” he stated.

Syria became isolated by Western nations after Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri was assassinated in 2005, a killing that United Nations investigators later traced back to Syrian security officials, to the outrage of European and other Western nations. Damascus denied any involvement in the murder, yet many Lebanese officials and others distanced themselves from the Syrian government as a result.

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