(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 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 a photograph on the Internet, and Abdel Rahman Shagouri, held for more than one year for e-mailing a newsletter published by the banned website http://www.thisissyria.net (Levant News).
RSF also announced its support for a petition calling for political reforms and the lifting of the 21-year-old state of emergency. It has been signed by more than 1,500 people, including intellectuals, human rights activists, lawyers and actors.
Aksam Naysse, who heads the Committees for the Defence of Human Rights and Democratic Freedoms in Syria, has said the petition will be handed in to the authorities during a Damascus sit-in on 8 March. The Human Rights Association in Syria has also announced a day of protest against the martial laws that have been used to restrict civil and political freedoms in the country for over 40 years.
The Baath Party, in power since 1963, keeps complete control of the news media. It issued an especially restrictive press decree in 2001 that prevents any questioning of the “interests of the Syrian people, the Baath Party, national unity, the armed forces and the policies adopted by President Hafez al-Assad”. Journalists who “report false information and falsify documents” are liable to prison terms ranging from one to three years.
The print media, radio and television (which is a state monopoly) have no choice but to relay the regime’s messages. A law passed in early 2002 allows the operation of privately-owned radio stations, but they can only broadcast music and advertisements.
A satirical newspaper, “Addomari”, was launched in February 2001 but was forced to close two years later because of constant bureaucratic harassment (see IFEX alerts of 6 and 5 August 2003). In the run-up to the United States-led invasion of Iraq, the authorities placed a journalist in detention after he broached the sensitive issue. Ibrahim Hamidi, the Damascus bureau chief of the pan-Arab newspaper “Al-Hayat”, was imprisoned for five months, apparently the victim of rivalry between various security services (see alerts of 23 May and 16 January 2003 and 30 December 2002).
Foreign correspondents are also kept under surveillance in Syria and are subject to frequent pressure from the authorities. Many websites are censored.
Syria was ranked 155th in a classification of 166 countries ranked according to their respect for press freedom. RSF published the list for the second year running in October 2003.
