On the evening of June 24, 1997, Mr. Bashir Saadi and Mr. Yonan Talya were arrested in Hassaka, Syria. The following day, Mr. Aziz Ahi, a resident of Kamishli, was also arrested. The three men are Assyrian Christians from the Hassaka province in northeastern Syria. They belong to Mtakasta otherwise known as the Assyrian Democratic Organization (ADO).

The ADO had sponsored a water development project to aid in the transportation of potable water from Hassaka to numerous Assyrian villages in the Khabor area following the drastic reduction of water flow in the Khabor River. The three Assyrians arrested are accused of complicity in raising funds for the project from members of the Assyrian diaspora community in the U.S.A. and Australia and of subsequently misappropriating those funds for their personal use. They are also accused of abusing the name of the Syrian government.

The three have been held without access to a lawyer. They have been refused family visits. No trial has yet been set. Sources from the area are deeply concerned that the three men are in danger of being physically abused and tortured.

Mr. Bashir Saadi is a representative of the large Assyrian Christian community in northeastern Syria and is a former member of the Syrian Parliament. It is feared that the incarceration of Mr. Saadi and the others is the beginning of a new wave of persecution of the Assyrian community in Syria.