Syria's record on freedom and human rights has failed to improve in the 10 years since President Bashar al-Assad came to power, according to Human Rights Watch.

The agency delivered what it called a "bleak" verdict on Assad's record on political and human rights activity, freedom of expression, torture and the treatment of the country's Kurdish minority. Virtually nothing has been done in the last decade, the report concludes.

Assad, who took over from his father, Hafez, on 17 July 2000, promised greater transparency and democracy but has failed to deliver them, the watchdog says.

In the last few weeks alone Syrian courts separately gave three years in jail to two leading human rights lawyers, Haytham al-Maleh, 78, and Muhanad al-Hasani, 42, for criticising the country's human rights record.

Repression has continued despite a thaw since 2007 in relations with both the US and EU, which want Syria's co-operation on the Middle East peace process, Iraq and other regional issues, and regularly send senior officials to meet Assad. Pro-forma protests by western governments are simply ignored.

Human rights abuses are less severe than in the 1980s when security forces carried out large-scale murders and disappearances, especially of Islamist opponents. But a state of emergency introduced in 1962 remains in force. This allows security agencies to make arrests without warrants and to torture with impunity.

HRW called for an independent investigation into the fate of detainees believed to have been killed in a riot at Sednaya prison two years ago.

Media censorship remains prevalent and covers websites such as Facebook and YouTube. Journalists and bloggers are arrested and tried in a state security court for exercising their right to freedom of expression.

Politically, Syria remains a de facto single-party state with only the Ba'ath party able to operate freely. Assad – who won a second presidential term in an uncontested referendum in 2007 – says his priority is economic reform and blames regional circumstances such as the invasion of Iraq and conflict with Israel for holding up reforms he wanted to implement.

Syria's 1.7 million Kurds, the biggest non-Arab ethnic minority in the country, face routine discrimination and harrasssment. Large numbers remain stateless despite a presidential promise to tackle their plight.

"President Assad has no excuse to continue to stall on needed reforms to his country's human rights record," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at HRW. "Now that he has emerged from his internationally imposed isolation, he should open up his country.

"Whether Assad wanted to be a reformer but was hampered by an entrenched old guard or has been just another Arab ruler unwilling to listen to criticism, the outcome for Syria's people is the same: no freedom, no rights. Assad's record after 10 years is that he has done virtually nothing to improve his country's human rights record."