[JURIST] Leading Syrian human rights activist Aktham Naisse [Human Rights First profile], was acquitted of all charges by a Syrian State Security Court Sunday. Naisse, chairman of the Committees for the Defense of Democratic Liberties and Human Rights in Syria, was arrested in 2004 and charged with spreading false information and forming an underground association after publishing a report on human rights and leading a campaign to end 40 years of emergency law in Syria, which greatly limits freedom of expression, association, and assembly. He was later released on bail [JURIST report], AP has more. Earlier this month the congress of Syria's ruling Baath party called for political reforms and a broadening of press freedom in an effort to move away from the emergency law [JURIST report], in place since the party took power in 1963.