Syria

(WiPC/IFEX) – WiPC welcomes the release of writer and medical doctor Abdul Aziz Al-Khayer on 3 November 2005 under a Presidential Amnesty to mark the Muslim Eid holiday. Medical doctor and dissident writer Abdul Aziz Al-Khayer was arrested in Damascus on 1 February 1992 and sentenced to 22 years’ imprisonment for his membership of the […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Cyber-dissident Abdel Rahman Shagouri was released from jail on 31 August 2005, one week after completing his sentence for “publishing lies”. RSF had condemned his conviction as “utterly unjustified.” “This man spent more than two and a half years in prison and was tortured just for sending news by email,” the organisation said. […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Appalled at the harsh prison conditions of Massud Hamed, RSF has urged Arab League Secretary General Amre Moussa to intervene with the Syrian authorities on his behalf. Hamed, a 29-year-old journalism student jailed since July 2003, has been regularly tortured in prison and is now in a very poor state of health. “Massud […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has welcomed the 30 May 2005 release of Hussein Al Aoudat and seven other members of the Salon Atassi political debating forum, after six days in detention. The organisation urged the authorities to also free journalist Ali Abdallah, who has been held since 16 May. Another journalist and political activist, Habib Saleh, […]

(EOHR/IFEX) – The following is a 29 May 2005 EOHR statement: EOHR calls on Syrian authorities to end intimidation, kidnapping and arbitrary detention of human rights activists The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) strongly condemns the Syrian authorities’ intimidation of human rights activists in the form of arrests, arbitrary detention and kidnapping, and demands […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has welcomed the 9 May 2005 creation of Hurriyat (Freedom), the first independent media union in Syria, and urged the authorities to officially recognise it. “Hurriyat could play a key role in the liberalisation of the media and the decriminalisation of press offences, which we have been demanding for years,” the organisation […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On the eve of World Human Rights Day (10 December 2004), RSF has urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to end the daily attacks on press freedom in his country. “Syria’s economic opening and political modernisation will just be empty promises if the authorities continue to block development of a free and independent media,” […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the State Security Court’s 10 October 2004 decision to sentence Massud Hamid, a journalism student and member of Syria’s Kurdish minority, to three years in prison. Hamid was found guilty of “belonging to a secret organisation” and “attempting to incorporate part of Syria’s territory into a third country.” The organisation […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to immediately release three journalists, two of whom were recently arrested and one who has been imprisoned for more than a year. In an 8 October 2004 letter to the head of state, the organisation called for the release of Nabil Fayad, who was arrested […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to release five imprisoned cyber-dissidents, including Massud Hamid, a 29-year-old Kurdish journalism student who is due to appear before the Supreme State Security Court on 25 July 2004, to face charges of “belonging to an illegal organisation”. Hamid was arrested on 24 July 2003 at […]

(WiPC/IFEX) – The WiPC of International PEN welcomes the release of writer and journalist Mohammed Ghanem, who was freed in the early hours of 4 April 2004 after being held for 13 days. He was reportedly denied food during his entire detention, causing him digestive and health problems. He is now recovering at home with […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the Syrian government’s blocking of two Kurdish-language websites, http://www.amude.com and http://www.qamislo.com, which carry news, pictures and video clips of demonstrations by the country’s Kurdish minority. The two websites are based in Germany. They were blocked for Syrian Internet users in mid-March 2004. Both websites are a major source of information […]

(WiPC/IFEX) – The WiPC of International PEN welcomes the 22 February 2004 release of Marwan Osman, a writer and member of the Kurdish PEN Centre. Osman and co-accused Kurdish activist Hassan Saleh were reportedly acquitted of the charges against them on 22 February and immediately left Syria for Iraqi Kurdistan. Osman, a Kurdish writer, poet […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to release two imprisoned Internet users as a goodwill gesture on the occasion of the 41st anniversary of the founding of the ruling Baath Party on 8 March 2004. The two detainees are journalism student Massoud Hamid, held secretly for the past seven months for posting […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to immediately release Massud Hamid, a journalism student and photographer who has been held in incommunicado detention since 24 July 2003 in Adra prison, near the capital, Damascus. In a letter to the president, the organisation said it is extremely concerned for Hamid’s physical and […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has protested over the detention of cyber-dissident Abdel Rahman Shagouri. He has been held without trial for the past seven months in what is the first known case of the jailing of a cyber-dissident in Syria. Shagouri was arrested on 23 February 2003 at a checkpoint near the Syrian capital, Damascus, for […]