25 Mar 11 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Security forces opened fire on protesters in the southern city of Daraa on Wednesday, killing at least 25 demonstrators. While activists claimed that many more had been killed, hospital sources reported 25 bodies with bullet wounds. Security forces have come down hard on recent demonstrations, with at least 32 protesters having been killed since Friday 18 March.
17 Mar 11 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Security forces clashed with demonstrators in Damascus on Tuesday, detaining at least 35 protesters, including a 10 year old boy. The Syrian demonstrators, who demanded the release of political prisoners, ignored a ban on all demonstrations and protest marches in the capital.
22 Feb 11 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, News and features
Blogger Ahmad Abu Khair was arrested on Sunday morning while driving from Banias to Damascus, it has been reported. Charges are unknown. The arrest came a few days after the Syrian blogger Tal al-Mallouhi was sentenced to five years in prison for allegedly passing information to the United States.
15 Feb 11 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Young Syrian blogger, Tal al-Mallouhi, has been sentenced to five years in prison by a state security court on espionage charges. Mallouhi, who was 18 at the time of her arrest in December 2009, was accused of spying for the US embassy in Egypt and held incommunicado for nine months before her family was allowed to see her. Before her arrest she ran a blog that focused on poetry, social commentary and Palestinian issues. A poem criticising restrictions on freedom of expression in Syria may be the reason behind her arrest, activists have suggested.
