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Syrian Blogger Sentenced to Three Years in Jail

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the hope-he-gets-net-access dept.

blind biker writes "The AP reports (via the Herald Tribune) of Tarek Bayassi, a 24-year old Syrian blogger sentenced to three years in jail for 'undermining the prestige of the state and weakening national morale.' The original sentence was six years but it was commuted on appeal. Apparently, this isn't an isolated case in Syria."

2 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. Guys, we're talking about SYRIA here by sm62704 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Why does this surprise anybody?

    Since 1963 the country has been governed by the Baath Party; the head of state since 1970 has been a member of the Assad family. Syria's current president is Bashar al-Assad, son of Hafez al-Assad, who held office from 1970 until his death in 2000.[1]

    ...Upon assuming power, Hafez al-Assad moved quickly to create an organizational infrastructure for his government and to consolidate control.

    Since when have any citizens of any dictatorship ever had freedom of speech? If he were Chinese his family would be paying for a bullet.
    --
    mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  2. Weakening national morale by esocid · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well shit, if that were a crime here about half the population, myself included, would be guilty.
    We're gonna fail! (Whatever you are thinking, just assume I mean that.)

    --
    Absolute power corrupts absolutely. indymedia