Britain has withdrawn the royal wedding invitation to Syria, with the support of Buckingham Palace, after a violent crackdown against pro-democracy supporters, a Foreign Office spokesman said on Thursday. The invitation was rescinded on the eve of Friday's wedding between Prince William, the second-in-line to the British throne, and his long-term girlfriend Kate Middleton, following criticism from opposition politicians and human rights groups.
"You may not want to see the pictures of repression in Syria at the same time as the picture of the Syrian ambassador happily being greeted at the wedding," Human Rights Watch senior legal adviser Clive Baldwin told Reuters.