6 Oct 2010 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
A teenage blogger who has been detained for nine months has been accused of spying for the American Embassy in Egypt. Tal al Mallohi, who is currently being held in Duma women’s prison near Damascus, was arrested by Syrian Intelligence Services in December 2009, in connection with a street attack on security services. She is accused of providing information that led to the incident. Mallohi has been denied access to a lawyer, and has had her computer and other personal possessions confiscated from her parents’ house. Her family have not been allowed to contact her. She is expected to appear in court in the next few days.
25 Jun 2010 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Lawyer and human rights activist Muhannad al-Hassani was sentenced to three years in prison by the Damascus Criminal Court on Wednesday 23 June. Having publicly called for the immediate release of political prisoners and condemned their unfair trials, al-Hassani was convicted of “weakening national sentiment” and “conveying within Syria false news that could debilitate the morale of the nation”. In May 2010, al-Hassani was the winner of the prestigious Martin Ennals Award in recognition of his human rights work. An appeal is being considered.
17 Mar 2010 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, Uncategorized
A recent report by the OpenNet Initiative has revealed that search terms in both Arabic and English relating to homosexuality are censored in some Middle Eastern countries. The study showed that the level of censorship on Microsoft’s Bing ranged from ‘substantial’ to ‘pervasive’ and ‘selective’ in Algeria, Syria, Jordan and United Arab Emirates. Other sexually explicit search terms were also found to be censored.
8 Aug 2008 | Middle East and North Africa, Syria
Dissident Syrian freed
Syrian dissident Aref Dalila has been freed by Syrian authorities seven years into his ten-year jail term. The economist was jailed in 2002 on charges of inciting armed rebellion, spreading false information and trying to change the constitution by weakening national sentiment. (more…)
