Syria: A Blogger Arrested, a Journalist Missing

Amidst a crackdown on protests in Daraa, Syria, a journalist is reported missing, while a blogger has reportedly been arrested, not long after being released for a previous arrest.

Twitter users are reporting that Khaled Elekhetyar, a Syrian journalist and blogger is unreachable, and his Facebook account has been hacked and used to post pro-Assad propaganda.

@ramiar tweeted:

@wissamtarif #Syria journalist Khaled Elekhetyar unreachable – meanwhile his fb account is hacked and spammed with pro-Asad propaganda..

Adnan Shami started a twitter account to report the following:

الصحفي خالد الإختيار غائب عن الإنترنت ولا يمكننا الاتصال به منذ أكثر من أربع وعشرين ساعة #syria

Journalist Khaled Elekhetyar missing from the internet and has been unreachable for over 24 hours.

A friend of Khaled who wishes to remain anonymous said:

Spoke to him last time around 10pm on 21 march..he was organizing the protest for 22 march in front of Palace of Justice..when we last spoke (10pm the day before the supposed to be protest) he looked scared and concerned for security of the people he knew…last FB msg he wrote was around 10am (you can check on his profile) on 22, protests were supposed to start at 12pm, then silence, his phone always shut down and now these strange messages on his FB profile which really seems to have been hacked or something…

Meanwhile, Syrian blogger Ahmad Abu Al-Khair (@ahmadtalk on Twitter), who was arrested and released in February of this year, has been arrested once again.

Mohammad Al Abdallah reports:

Urgent: Security forces arrests blogger Ahmed Abu El-Kheir in #Damascus#Syria #mar15

And the harrowing reports from the events in Syria keep trickling through the enforced media and communication blackout. @1SecularSyrian tweeted:

Hero Soldier Khaled Al-Masri killed by his fellow soldiers for refusing to participate In storming Omari Mosque yesterday #Daraa #Syria

Blogger Yassin Sweha comments:

ﻣﺎ ﻳﺤﺪﺙ ﻓﻲ ﺩﺭﻋﺎ ﻻ ﻳﻤﻜﻦ ﻭﺻﻔﻪ ﺑﺎﻟﺠﻨﻮﻥ، ﻓﺎﻟﺠﻨﻮﻥ ﺍﺑﺪﺍﻉ، ﻭ ﻻ ﺍﺑﺪﺍﻉ ﻓﻲ ﻗﺘﻞ ﺍﻟﻨﺎﺱ ﺑﻞ ﺳﺎﺩﻳﺔ #Syria

What's happening in Daraa can't be described as madness; Madness is creativity, and there's no creativity in killing people but only sadism.

Reports of a brutal crackdown are non-stop. The next video was recorded yesterday and it shows plainclothes security agents arresting people randomly from the streets:

This story is ongoing and will be updated as details become available.

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