Human rights groups say hundreds of ordinary Syrians have been jailed for "degrading the prestige of the state" amid an intensifying crackdown on anti-government protests.
Hundreds of detainees received a three-year prison sentence on Tuesday while mass arrests continue, to pre-empt further unrest on the Muslim day of prayer on Friday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Demonstrations in the region typically see biggest turn out on Fridays.
"Mass arrests are continuing across Syria in another violation of human rights and international conventions," Rami Abdelrahman of the rights body told Reuters news agency on Wednesday.
President Bashar al-Assad's campaign to preserve his 11-year rule took a drastic turn last week after his brother Maher led a tank-backed army unit in shelling protesters into submission at Deraa, the southern city that has been the epicentre of the six-week-old uprising.
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