Syrian Elector

Syria tightens controls on Internet users

Associated Press Writer

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Syria is cracking down more on Internet use, imposing tighter monitoring of citizens who link to the Web, as well as jailing bloggers who criticize the government and blocking YouTube and other Web sites deemed harmful to state security.

The tighter hand is coming even as Syrian officials show off a press center with fast Internet access and wireless technology for journalists covering this weekend's Arab League summit. The clampdown doesn't appear to be tied to the summit.

In recent days, authorities extended restrictions on Web use by requiring owners of Internet cafes to keep detailed logs of their customers, apparently to make it easier to track down anyone deemed to be a threat.

The rules, conveyed orally by security agents, require Internet cafes to record a client's full name, ID or passport number, the computer used and the amount of time spent on the device. The logs must be available to show to security agents upon demand.

``It's a new form of psychological pressure and part of the state's systematic intimidation of Internet users,'' said Mazen Darwish, a journalist who heads the independent Syrian Media Center.

``It works to a certain extent in the sense that it creates a kind of self-censorship among users,'' he told The Associated Press.

Darwish has been targeted in a crackdown on journalists. He was arrested in January as he reported on unrest over a murder in Adra, near Damascus, and is on trial before a military court for allegedly defaming state institutions. He faces up to a year in jail if convicted, he says.

Three Civilians Killed by Syrian Authorities amidst Celebrations

Tharwa Exclusive
Ahed Al Hendi

Syrian security officials killed three Kurdish civilians today, March 20 2008, after they left a celebration commemorating the holiday of Newroz, an important holiday celebrated by Kurds worldwide. The killings occurred in the city of Qamishli in northern Syria. Many others were injured and are currently in serious condition, while dozens more have been arrested.

Newroz is a national Kurdish festival celebrated each year on the 21st of March to welcome Spring, celebrations are often held outdoors. Syrian authorities frequently ban people from celebrating the holiday in their ongoing attempt to smother all expression of Kurdish national sentiments.

Syria expands "iron censorship" over Internet

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrian authorities have ordered Internet cafe users to reveal their identity, the latest measure in their "iron censorship" of cyberspace, a Syrian monitoring group said on Thursday.

Security officials ordered Internet cafe owners this week to take down the names and identification cards of their clients as well as the times they come and leave, Mazen Darwich, head of the Syrian Media Centre, told Reuters.

The records are to be presented regularly to the authorities, who targeted bloggers and Internet writers in recent months as part of a renewed campaign against dissent.

"These steps are designed to terrorise Internet users and spread fear and self censorship in violation of the right to privacy and free expression," Darwich said.

"The government has been methodical in extending the scope of its iron censorship," he said.

There was no comment from the government. Officials had said Internet controls were needed to guard against what they described as attempts to spread sectarian divisions and "penetration by Israel".

Several Internet cafes confirmed the new regulations.

Restrictions have also increased on surfing the World Wide Web and online publishing. An increasing number of Syrians who have voiced opinions on the Internet were being jailed, Darwich said.

Syria censors the internet

They know where you live and they're coming for you!
By Sylvie Barak

THE SYRIAN GOVERNMENT is cracking the whip of "iron censorship" by forcing internet café users to sign in with their real names and by providing ID, a Syrian monitoring group told Reuters.

The Syrian Media Centre, which keeps its eye on media 'freedom' in the country, reckons that this is the government's latest attempt to silence the voice of public opinion against the repressive Baath Regime. Bloggers have been using sites like Googleblog and the Arab Maktoobblog to speak out about anything from public services to politics. But now these sites have been blocked and head of the Syrian Media Centre, Mazen Darwich, reckons that blogging will now become an even greater risk with dreadful prices to pay. "The government has been methodical in extending the scope of its iron censorship," he said.

In attempts which Syrian government officials reckon are necessary to 'protect' the country from what they describe as attempts to spread sectarian violence and "penetration by Israel", Internet café owners will now be forced to take down the ID card information of every client as well as the time they entered and left.

According to the Syrian media watchdog, many Syrians who have blogged against the regime have already been thrown in prison and 153 Internet sites have had their access blocked. Facebook and Youtube are strictly banned, as are, unsurprisingly all opposition party sites and Lebanese news sites which dare to protest Syria's meddling.

Syria is by no means the only country which censors the Internet and spies on web users, China recently introduced similar draconian regulations. While the US has been up to it all along.

14 Mar 2008 | 13:55 GMT  _ the NQUIRER

Arab bloggers defy arrest

Alexandra Sandels in Beirut

Arab governments have been pressuring online activists to shut down their blogs, rights groups have said.

A number of Arab bloggers say they will continue to publish their messages online even as regional governments have started to aggressively restrict their activities.

Wael Abbas, an Egyptian online activist who uploaded YouTube video clips of two policemen torturing and sodomising a microbus driver in 2006, says the government is now pressuring bloggers in his country.

"The government is turning its eyes to us, forcing bloggers to shut down their blogs and harassing them," he told Al Jazeera.

The YouTube torture videos sparked public outrage and led to a landmark case in which the two policemen were sentenced to five years in prison.

But Abbas says he has come under increasing pressure since the case.

"They know what I am doing online. I have received several phone calls in the past year in which I have been told to stop cooperating with human rights organisations," he said.

No Freedom in Arab Cultural Capital 2008

by Alexandra Sandels

The selection of Damascus as the Arab cultural capital 2008 by UNESCO is overshadowed by the imprisonment of dozens of members of the political opposition. While President Bashar Al-Assad states "Damascus is the capital of resistance culture by symbolizing Arab culture - the culture of freedom and defending freedom," an increasing number of journalists, writers, poets and artists enter Syrian prisons.

When Damascus was crowned the Arab cultural capital of the year 2008 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), President al-Assad praised the honour, saying in his speech on the opening of the one-year long celebration on 10 January that the selection is an acknowledgement of the city's 'resistance culture'.

"Damascus is the capital of resistance culture by symbolizing Arab culture - the culture of freedom and defending freedom," said Al-Assad. But as hailed Lebanese singer Fayrouz, an emblem of Arab culture, took the stage in Damascus in late January to give her first performance in Syria in 20 years, accommodation for a number of prominent new guests from Syria's political opposition, including writers, poets, and sculptors, were made in the jails of Damascus.

APN spoke with Ammar Abdulhamid, an exiled Syrian lawyer and Executive Director of the Tharwa Foundation, a web portal for bloggers and activists in the Arab world.

"It's ironic that Damascus is being celebrated as the Arab cultural capital this year. What is there to celebrate when the Syrian culture is censored or put in prison? The writers, the intellectuals, the journalists...they're all gone. Is culture about crackdown and totalitarianism?" he said.