Syria 'arrests anti-regime actor'

Syrian security agents have arrested a television actor who opposes the Damascus regime, activists said on Saturday, a day after a prominent independent filmmaker disappeared. Mohammed Omar Oso and members of his family were seized from their home in the upscale western Damascus district of Mazzeh, according to militant groups, including the Rally of Artists in Syria, which posted the information on Facebook. The reports about Oso, who has starred in several popular television soap operas, could not be independently confirmed. But activists have reported a number of arrests and attacks against prominent media and cultural figures since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's autocratic regime began in March last year. On Friday, the Local Coordination Committees said that prominent independent film producer Orwa Nyrabia had gone missing after going to Damascus airport to catch a flight to Cairo, and was feared to have been arrested. Media and the arts in Syria are heavily controlled by the government in Syria. Nyrabia, who co-founded his own production company Proaction Film and a documentary festival in Syria known as DOX BOX, has often served on panels at film festivals in Europe and the Middle East.