Syria
Syrian Cyber-dissident releasedPosted Sep 20 2007
Syrian writer and cyber-dissident Habib Saleh was released on Sept. 12 after 27 months in detention. He was arrested May 29, 2005, and convicted by a military court in Homs for “spreading mendacious information” in open letters to the Baath Party criticizing the regime, which he posted on websites such as elaph.com, an online Arabic newswire service.
Ibrahim Melki, Salehs lawyer, petitioned for his release under a law that allows prisoners to be freed after completing three-quarters of their sentence. His lawyer blamed his conviction on an article about the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Saleh was a regular contributor to the privately-owned Lebanese daily An-Nahar. He was previously in jail in 2001 when, with nine other pro-democracy activists, he headed the Tartus Forum for National Democratic Dialogue.
Since Basha al-Assad became president in 2000, Syria's Internet access has become increasingly restricted with access to opposition online publications systematically blocked.
Related links: Elaph.com (in Arabic), Reporters Without Borders, An-Nahar (in Arabic)