Posts Tagged ‘Syria’
May 17th, 2013
Five members of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) are scheduled to appear before the country’s Anti-Terrorism court in Damascus on 19 May. Three of the activists, SCM’s head Mazen Darwish, blogger Hussein Gharir, and activist Hani Zaitani have been held in prison since February 2012, when Syrian security forces attacked and raided the organisation’s offices. Abdel Rahman Hamada and Mansour Omari were conditionally released earlier this year. Syria’s Air Force Intelligence has accused the five activists of “publicising terrorist acts”, under the country’s Anti-Terrorism law.
A group of 19 international organisations today called for the release of Zaitani, Gharir, and Darwish, and for the charges against all five to be dropped. If convicted, they face up to 15 years in prison. According to a statement released today, Syria’s Justice Minister earlier this month promised the release of SCM’s three jailed members — in addition to 69 other jailed activists.
SCM member Maha Assabalani, who was avoided being imprisoned during the raid, wrote about her colleagues for Index last year. She said that her colleagues are in prison for fighting for freedom of expression — and that they “risked their life fighting for real change.” She also said that Darwish regularly told the organisation’s staff that “there are not enough prisons for the free word.”
May 8th, 2013
Syria appears to be cut off from internet access, according to reports from web monitoring groups. Google’s transparency report shows that access to its services has been cut off in the country since 22:00 local time on Tuesday. Similarly, web security group Umbrella Security Labs said in a blog post that “it seems Syria has largely disappeared from the Internet.” Internet connection monitor Renesys also confirmed the outage last night:
Syrian residents have confirmed that the internet is down to the BBC, but both landlines and mobile phones are still working.
Internet and mobile connectivity was shut down in November 2012.
February 27th, 2013
The US Secretary of State is headed for the Middle East and the Gulf. Sara Yasin explains the censorship issues in the region he needs to hear about
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November 29th, 2012
According to Renesys, a firm that monitors internet connectivity, mobile and internet connections in Syria
have been cut off today. In a blog post the US-based organisation
said that “all 84 of Syria’s IP address blocks have become unreachable, effectively removing the country from the Internet” starting at 12:26 local time today. The blackout
comes as clashes between security forces and rebels have been raging near the Damascus Airport, with Emirates Airlines and Egypt Air canceling fights out of security concerns.
Alternative dial-up access has been set-up for Syrians by activists: Dial up access: +46850009990 +492317299993 +4953160941030 User:telecomix Password:telecomix OR +33172890150 User:toto Password:toto.
October 5th, 2012
Syrian writer Razan Zaitouneh won the Anna Politkovskaya Raw in War Award in 2011. She addresses the Russian journalist, who’s assassination remains unsolved, about Marie Colvin, 2012 recipient, who was killed in Syria earlier this year
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September 17th, 2012
Yesterday Iran confirmed that its revolutionary guards corps (IRGC)
forces are present in Syria helping Bashar al-Assad’s government fight rebel forces. General Mohammad Ali Jafari, Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, issued a further warning that it would get involved militarily if its Arab ally came under attack. British officials say that the IRGC has provided riot control equipment and technical advice on how to crush
dissent, as well as providing support to improve monitor protestor’s use of the
internet and mobile phone networks.
June 29th, 2012
As the battleground of the Syrian conflict rages offline, the internet is playing an important role in allowing its citizens to communicate with the rest of the world. Jillian C. York reports
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