Blogger and free speech activist Razan Ghazzawi was released on Saturday along with her female colleagues, after being arrested and detained last Thursday following a raid on the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression in Damascus. Ghazzawi’s sister tweeted that Razan had returned home but was not allowed to leave the country. Razan’s male colleagues remain detained.
Bahrain announced the deportation of four foreign activists for “taking part in illegal demonstrations” on 18 February, bringing the number of those expelled over the past week to 12. The official BNA news agency reported on Friday that the four — including one American and one Briton — were deported for “lying on immigration forms”, as their “visas were issued for the purposes of tourism but all were participating in illegal demonstrations.”
A Burmese monk jailed for his involvement in 2007 protests faces further charges for breaking both the law and the Buddhist monks’ code of conduct. Shin Gambira, who was released from prison in a January amnesty, has been accused of rejoining the religious order without requesting authorisation, of being in the government sealed Magin Monastery and breaking the locks of two other monasteries. According to newspapers reports, Shin Gambira had said in a statement that he did not need permission to rejoin the order of monks so he would not ask for it.
Gambira was awarded an Index on Censorship Free Expression Award in 2008.
The trial of the web master of a Thai news website resumed last week after a long interruption.Chiranuch Premchaiporn, web master of Prachatai news website, faces a possible 20 year prison sentence for not removing certain user comments from her website quickly enough. The resumed case, which was delayed from October 2011 due to the severe flooding in Bangkok, heard five defence witnesses give evidence to the court on 14, 15 and 16 February. Chiranuch has said she was pleased that the defence witnesses were finally able to give their evidence.