He has criticized the Syrian government for human rights abuses, for which he was arrested and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in 1991, most of which he spent in Mezzeh prison outside Damascus.
On 6 May 2001, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad granted Nayyouf's release on humanitarian grounds on the date of Pope John Paul II's visit to Syria.
[4] On 10 December 1991, the CDF published a four-page tract authored by Nayyouf, denouncing "the confiscation of public and democratic rights", the "daily aggressions of the security services" and "those who have been forgotten behind the prison-bars of martial law.
"[4] In the tract, Nayyouf also criticizes how "a large number of our fellow-citizens were forced to take part in marches and ceremonies" and "people, especially shopkeepers and school children, were obliged to contribute financially to the decorations".
[1] In the trial, Nayyouf was connected with a CDF leaflet questioning the results of the uncontested presidential election of 1991 and calling attention to Syrian human rights violations.
[5] Provisions guaranteeing the rights of the accused under the Constitution of Syria are not binding on the SSSC, which tries political and national security cases, and lawyers representing Nayyouf and the other defendants were not allowed to meet with them before the trial.
[1] The Syrian ambassador to the United States Walid Muallem told Human Rights Watch that Nayyouf was only suffering from a slipped disc and that his health condition had improved.
[6] While in prison, Nayyouf was the subject of significant attention from human rights organizations and received numerous international awards in journalism and press freedom.
[3]Various organizations, including UNESCO and the World Association of Newspapers, endeavoured to secure Nayyouf's release from prison on humanitarian grounds due to his precarious mental and physical condition.
[8][6] Syrian President Bashar al-Assad granted Nayyouf's release ten years after his initial imprisonment, on 6 May 2001 to coincide with the visit of Pope John Paul II to Syria.
[10] International outcry ensued in response to the incident, which had occurred just as Nayyouf was planning to release information detailing Syrian human rights abuses, but the government denied involvement.
[13] Nayyouf moved to France and then the UK, as he applied for political asylum, while he sought medical treatment for the injuries he suffered from torture during his confinement, which left him partially paralysed.
[19] In 2004, Nayyouf gave an interview to the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf in which he claimed that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein hid his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in Syria before the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.
[14][20] Nayyouf claimed that officers of the Special Republican Guard organized the smuggling in collaboration with relatives of Bashar al-Assad including Dhu al-Himma Shalish and Assif Shoakat, who is also CEO of Bhaha, an import/export company owned by the Assad family.
[14] In France in 2004, Nayyouf's apartment in Hauts-de-Seine was burgled and secret papers documenting relations between Iraq and a number of Western and Middle Eastern governments were stolen.