SYRIA-LITERATURE-MAGHUT-FUNERAL

Mourners carry the national flag-draped coffin of Syrian poet and playwright Muhammad al-Maghut during his funeral in Damascus, 05 April 2006. Maghut, who died 03 April 2006 after a long illness at the age of 72, was widely considered in Arab cultural circles as a pioneer of free verse. During a rich literary career Maghut penned scores of plays, television series, films -- including Arab hits such as "The Borders" and "The Report" -- in addition to poetry. But he was most famous for plays, television series and films he wrote in the 1960s and 1970s for popular Syrian comedians Dureid Laham and Nihad Qalae, in which he criticised the social and political conditions in Arab societies. In 1955 he was jailed at the notorious Mazzeh prison near Damascus for membership in the Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party, which was repressed at the time. AFP PHOTO/LOUAI BESHARA (Photo by Louai Beshara / AFP) (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)