Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Syrian Internet user jailed for 'dissident' e-mail
Agence France-Presse
Damascus, June 20
Syria's State Security Court jailed an Internet user for two-and-a-half years on Sunday for e-mailing a dissident newsletter, a human rights group said.
The Association of Human Rights in Syria said Abdel Rahman Shagouri was imprisoned by the court, whose verdicts cannot be appealed, for "disseminating false information."
It condemned the sentence as "a measure which violates the right of exchange of information and freedom of expression", adding: "This is a dangerous precedent and a new step backward for freedoms and human rights."
The association called on Interior Minister Ali Hammoud "not to ratify the verdict of the court and release Shagouri and all political detainees in Syria."
Shagouri was arrested in February 2003 for e-mailing a newsletter put out by the banned website www.thisissyria.net (Levant News).
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said last March that he had been held in Saidnaya prison near Damascus, was allegedly tortured by Syrian military intelligence, and was reportedly not being allowed any legal representation.
RSF noted that martial laws have been used to restrict civil and political freedoms for more than 40 years, and that many Web sites are censored.
RSF secretary general Robert Menard noted in December that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is an enthusiast for new technology and previously headed the Syrian Computer Association.
"We therefore hope to be able to remind President Assad that there cannot be any sustainable development on the Internet without respect for freedom of expression," he said.
Shagouri, 32 and married, lives at Birajam village near the Syrian capital. According to Amnesty International, his house was searched on the day of his arrest and his computer, CD-ROMs and other computer equipment were seized.
Last week, on the eve of his court appearance, Amnesty repeated a call for his immediate and unconditional release, "along with that of four other prisoners of conscience held solely for peaceful exercise of their right to free expression over the Internet."
Amnesty said three of the others, Muhannad Kutaysh, his brother Haytham, and Yahia al-Aws, were arrested more than 18 months ago, reportedly for sending articles on Syrian affairs to an electronic newspaper in the United Arab Emirates, and faced trial on July 25.
Student Massoud Hamid has been held since July last year in connection with the posting of photographs of a peaceful Kurdish demonstration in Damascus, during which seven Kurds were arrested, on an Internet site, Amnesty said.
© HT Media Ltd. 2004