Syrian Blogger Still Detained
By Curt on Jan 9, 2008 in Tarek Baiasi, Syria, Imprisoned bloggers
Update: RSF reports that Baiasi is being tried on March 17. The whimsical “charges” brought against him are “undermining national sentiment” and “publishing false information.” “Undermining national sentiment” is the most Disney of all the fake charges that we’ve seen used by tinhorns the world over. This overtakes even “insulting Turkishness” in the Idiot Grand Prix.
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According to Mideast Youth, blogger Tarek Baiasi, who was arrested on July 30 of last year in the city of Tartous, as part of a crackdown on online comments, has still not been heard of since his detention.
Baiasi was arrested “for a comment he left on one of the forums called ‘I am a Muslim’ in which he presented the advantages and the disadvantages of the Syrian security forces policies.” His house was searched and he was taken away. He never appeared in open court and is said to be held in “the Palestine Camp’s security branch” in Damascus. (Not sure what that means. Anyone?)
Tarek’s father was arrested in the 1970s, when Tarek was only a few months old, and sentenced to 20 years in prison for allegedly being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, an outlawed Islamic organization.
Baiasi runs the risk of being yet another detained blogger all but unknown outside of his country. Let’s spread the word about him.
We know about you. You haven’t been forgotten. You won’t be forgotten.
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Update: Brian responds via Twitter, “there is a large refugee camp the ‘mochai’em yarmouk’ for palestinians in DAM, syrian govt also supports PFLP could be them holding hm”.
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