IFEX: Online journalist to serve six months in prison

“(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a 7 June 2006 CPJ press release:

Syria: Online journalist to serve six months in prison

New York, June 7, 2006 - The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the prison sentence handed down to a Syrian online journalist by a military court for articles advocating rights for Syria’s Kurdish minority, and criticizing the ruling Baath Party.

Muhammad Ghanem, editor of the news Web site Surion, was found guilty Tuesday of insulting the president, undermining the state’s dignity, and inciting sectarian divisions, according to an e-mail sent by Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria, to The Associated Press. Ghanem was sentenced to one year in jail but the judge commuted his sentence to six months, Surion said, without offering further explanation.”

Story submitted by IFEX.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 9th, 2006 at 2:39 pm and is filed under Oppression. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.