World | Syria Syria Charges Hundreds With ‘Maligning the State’ Hundreds face three-year stints in jail By Kevin Spak Posted May 4, 2011 11:15 AM CDT Copied Syrian men carry bread loaves during a protest against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, in the coastal town of Banias, in this image taken on a mobile phone May 3, 2011. (AP Photo) Hundreds of the Syrians rounded up in recent days have been charged with “maligning the prestige of the state,” an offense punishable by a three-year prison term, a human rights group tells Reuters. “Mass arrests are continuing across Syria in another violation of human rights and international conventions,” a member of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad promised today that the siege of Daraa would end “very soon,” downplaying the army’s assault there as a run-of-the-mill occurrence. “Any country in the world could be subjected to events that Daraa has been subjected to,” he told a semi-official newspaper. Read These Next A Social Security whistleblower says retaliation made him quit. 'Stand down,' Chicago mayor tells Trump. RFK Jr. suggests antidepressants to blame after shooting. A new possible clue in the hunt for Travis Decker. Report an error