Three Syrian women whose husbands were wanted in connection with a firefight between gunmen and police earlier this month were arrested by Syrian authorities on Monday.
The firefight, which occurred in the Hama province north of Damascus in the city of Jibril on September 2, resulted in the death of five men from the Jund Al Sham group.
According to AFP, the group claimed responsibility for the October bombing in the Sinai resort town of Taba which killed 34 people, mainly Israelis, as well as the bombing of an oil refinery in Texas which killed 15 and the bombing of a Qatari theater which killed one British man.
Jund Al Sham was also responsible for the killing of four Syrian policemen northeast of Damacus in late August.
An announcement released by the Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR) protested the arrests, saying that the move violates the Syrian constitution which allows only the arrest of those responsible for a crime, and not those with close ties to them.
"Syrian authorities arrested the wives of three men wanted in the Hama clashes, after they were not able to find (the suspects)", a statement released by AOHR on Maonday said. "The detention of these women is a violation of human rights and violates the Syrian constitution which authorizes only the arrest of those responsible for a crime and in accordance with an arrest warrant." Two of the women are pregnant and the third has a four-month-old child, the group said.
