Syria gives ex-top official 15 years in jail

DAMASCUS (Reuters) -- A Syrian court has sentenced a former member of the ruling Baath Party's top policy-making body now living in Europe to 15 years in jail in absentia, judicial sources said Friday.

The Supreme State Security Court sentenced Mohammed Haider, who was deputy prime minister for economic affairs during the 1970s, for "weakening the sense of nationalism and sparking sectarian differences," they said.

The court published an advertisement in local newspapers in May urging Haidar, who was already dismissed from the Baath Party, to come to Damascus to stand trial.

Haidar, who has lived in Europe for several years, did not attend the court session and was sentenced in absentia.

Syria has stepped up an anti-corruption campaign that led to the arrest or dismissal of several senior government officials, including former Prime Minister Mahmoud Zu'bi, who committed suicide in May after being dismissed from the ruling party and sent for trial.

The campaign, led by new Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, escalated before his father, the late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad, died on June 10.

Bashar, 34, took office as president for a seven-year term on July 17. He ordered the release earlier this week of scores of political prisoners including members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood and the Communist Action League parties.

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