Stories about Syria
Photos: GV Advocacy Meeting in Budapest (June 26)
A large number of activists have gathered in Budapest to discuss about threats to online free speech and finding out ways towards a global anti-censorship movement. The morning session has started and in the opening remarks the co-founder of Global Voices Online Ethan Zuckerman thanked everybody who came to the...
Syria: Three-Year Sentence for Blogger Tariq Baiasi
On Sunday 11-5-2008 the State Security Court in Damascus stated its verdict on the Syrian blogger Tariq Baiasi who was held in detention since 7-7-2007. Tariq was detained for leaving a comment on websites disfavored by the Syrian government.
Syria Blocks the Arabic Wikipedia
According to anasonline blog, access to Wikipedia Arabic, the Arabic language version of the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia, is now blocked by all ISPs in Syria.
Saudi Arabia: Freedom for Fouad Al Farhan
Saudi blogger Fouad Al Farhan is now a free man, after spending 137 days in detention in Jeddah. While bloggers have all along speculated why he has been held by the authorities for this long, Arab bloggers are unanimously excited over his release. And they also share their hopes for the release of other jailed bloggers.
Syrian Bloggers Campaign to Free Fellow Blogger Tariq Biasi
It all started when one did: Ahmad published several entries concerning the detention of Tariq, the jailed Syrian blogger, but it is only when his blog was added on the SYPlanet aggregator that I had the chance to be aware of Tariq's situation. I reacted by contacting all the bloggers...
It Could Be You: Release Syrian Blogger Tarek Baiasi
Tarek was detained on 7-7-2007 for critiquing security forces in Syria. He has not been taken to court up to this moment. His name is Tarek Baiasi and he's 23 years old. He lives in Banyas with his mother and two sisters. His father was detained during the 80s by...
Syria: Facebook Banned
Syria's netizens have been given another slap on the face with the banning of social networking site Facebook. With Blogger already blocked, the country's bloggers are fuming and have a lot to say about the latest development. From Damascus, Golaniya sets the mood: “Facebook is blocked in Syria, would I...
Syrian blogger Roukana Hamour has been Kidnapped
Update: Last night (October 26), we've received a call from Rokana Hamour. She is fine. She has been interrogated by the Syrian Security Services about a comment left on her blog. Rokana was released three hours later. We've received an email that appeared to come from someone who witnessed the...
Syria: Blogspot blocked? What to do next?
According to the last report from Syria, Google's Blogger platform, which hosts the popular blogspot.com blogs, is apparently being blocked by all Syrian ISPs. Syria has blocked access to Blogspot on more than one occasion. It started in February 2006 when Damascus-based bloggers reported that both government-affiliated ISPs, Syrian Telecom...
Syria: more victims of Internet repression
A new report released by Human Rights Watch reveals that two persons are being held in incommunicado detention at an undisclosed location in Syria. Karim ‘Arbaji (29) and Tarek Biasi (22) were arrested in June 2007 by Syrian Military Intelligence for expressing online views critical of the Syrian government. A...
Blogging for Kurds’ human rights
Young bloggers from across the Middle East have joined forces to fight for the human rights of their Kurdish brethren: “Our first target is the media which is necessary for Kurds to voice their opinion, thus we are petitioning to unblock these voices, at least on the internet, our only...
Syria: censorship and repression
Based on a list, by ISP, provided by the Syrian center for media and freedom of Expression, the Tharwa community has posted a brief history of the Internet Filtering in Syria, which describes the crackdown on online freedom of speech. Most of the blocked websites are related to freedom of...
Online Freedom for All: Some cases worth supporting
In my last article, “Lessons from the Free Kareem campaign”, I talked about campaigning and why some jailed and persecuted bloggers and online writers are winning sympathy, while others have difficulty attracting the attention of the public. I also discussed the logic behind the success or the failure of campaigning,...
