abstract:The Damascus Declaration () was a statement of unity by Syrian opposition figures issued in October 2005. It criticized the Syrian government as "authoritarian, totalitarian and cliquish," and called for "peaceful, gradual," reform "founded on accord, and based on dialogue and recognition of the other.
But inside Syria some of the signatories of the DamascusDeclaration, an alliance of secular Syrians, Kurds and Islamists who got together in 2005, have been speaking out and are better known.
In January 2008, Mr Seif was among a group of 12 people arrested after they tried to revive the DamascusDeclaration, an unauthorised coalition of political parties, human rights organisations and pro-democracy activists named after a document signed in 2005.