THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XI, Issue # 72, March 5, 2009
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
DISSIDENT WATCH: TARIQ BIASI
By Gideon Spitzer
HOW THE SYRIAN REGIME HANDLES DISSENT: SUPPRESSION OF POLITICAL DISSENT IN SYRIA -- ABSENCE OF FREE
EXPRESSION & OTHER CIVIL LIBERTIES GUARANTEES IN SYRIA
FULL STORY:
On June 7, 2007, Syrian military intelligence arrested blogger Tariq Biasi on charges of "undermining national sentiment"
and "publishing false information." [1] Biasi, a 23-year-old computer technician from Banyas, Syria, who suffers from
liver disease, is just the most recent in a slew of arrests targeting Syrian bloggers.
Reporters Without Borders reports that Biasi was accused of blogging against the government on a computer
shared by six other people, including an Internet café. [2] After his arrest and questioning by Syrian military intelligence,
Biasi was held incommunicado at the Palestine Security Branch in Damascus; [3] Syrian authorities did not lodge official
charges against him for more than six months. [4] Biasi's blog comments reportedly criticized Syrian military intelligence
for focusing on civilians instead of foreign military targets. [5] On May 11, 2008, the Syrian Security Court in Damascus
sentenced Biasi to three years in prison after reducing his sentence from six years. [6] Members of Biasi's family are no
strangers to detention by the Syrian government: The regime imprisoned his father for twenty years after he was
accused of membership in the Muslim Brotherhood, an accusation vehemently denied by bloggers familiar with the
case. [7]
Over the last several years, the Syrian government has required Internet café operators to report on the sites visited by
their customers. Furthermore, website owners have been forced under threat of punishment to reveal the names of their
written contributors, thus removing the ability of bloggers to anonymously express their opinions. [8]
Another Syrian blogger, Ahed al-Hindi, 23, was imprisoned in December, 2006, after the owner of an Internet café filmed
Hindi posting "illegal" comments about the government. He spent a month in prison for his online comments and
subsequently left Syria for Lebanon. [9] Hindi calls blogging in Syria a "dangerous activity" and states that at least eight
Syrian dissident bloggers were arrested in Syria in the past year. The Syrian government claims it is acting to protect
national security against a spam campaign started by "Israelis who infiltrated the Syrian Internet community." [10]
As a result of Biasi's arrest and sentencing, his freedom has become something of a rallying cry for Syrian dissidents,
both in Syria and abroad. Many websites have sprung up on the Internet to support Biasi, including one operated by a
group of five Syrian bloggers (freetariq.org). In addition, these bloggers have set up a Facebook group (officially
banned in Syria) and a global petition on Biasi's behalf.
NOTES:
[1] Al-Jazeera.net, Mar. 11, 2008.
[2] Reporters Without Borders, news release, Feb. 25, 2008.
[3] Human Rights Watch, news release, Oct. 8, 2007.
[4] Ahlan Wa Sahlan, Life after Syria Blog, Feb. 5, 2008; "Free Syrian Blogger Tariq Biassi," Gopetition.com, Jan. 20, 2008
[5] Muslim.net, June 30, 2008.
[6] MideastYouth.com, May 14, 2008.
[7] MideastYouth.com, Jan. 9, 2008; National Organization for Human Rights in Syria, news release, Jan. 19, 2008.
[8] Human Rights Watch, news release, Oct. 8, 2007; Reporters Without Borders, news release, Feb. 25, 2008.
[9] The Globe and Mail (London), Nov. 23, 2007.
[10] Arab Press Network, Mar. 12, 2008.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The Middle East & the Problem of Syria
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
American Foreign Policy -- Constitutional Democracy:
U.S. Promotion of Constitutional Democracy in Foreign Countries
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Gideon Spitzer is a former intern at the Middle East Quarterly and a history and political science major at the
University of Pennsylvania.
The foregoing article by Gideon Spitzer was originally published in the Middle East Quarterly, Winter, 2009, and
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to
define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(Article URL: http://www.meforum.org/article/2098/ dissident-watch-tariq-biasi)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
March 5, 2009
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