{"id":4272,"date":"2011-02-24T14:09:31","date_gmt":"2011-02-24T10:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=4272"},"modified":"2011-02-24T14:09:31","modified_gmt":"2011-02-24T10:09:31","slug":"another-blogger-held-as-syria-tightens-grip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/technology-in-the-middle-east\/middle-east-social-media-news-views-analysis\/another-blogger-held-as-syria-tightens-grip\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Blogger Held as Syria Tightens Grip"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This Mich Cafe Post was written by veteran Middle East publisher F. Najia<\/em><\/p>\n

Syrian Military Security this week arrested another native blogger, Ahmad Abul-Khair, on his way back to Damascus from the coastal city of Banias. The Observatory of Syrian bloggers<\/a> is now asking for his release.<\/p>\n

Abul-Khair launched his Ahmadblogs<\/a> on October 10, 2005. He is a\u00a0co-founder\u00a0of the popular Syrian blogs aggregator Almudawen<\/a>,<\/em> and an administrator at Ektob<\/a>, a blogging platform. \u00a0Born in 1983, he says on his blog site that he specializes in Islamic media and is \u201cof coastal origin and Damascene education and affinity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abul-Khair’s arrest came hardly a week after the sentencing of Syrian teenage blogger Tal al-Mallouhi to five years in prison on spying charges, presumably for the United States (see Jailed Syrian Teen Defines Terror<\/a>, February 17).<\/p>\n

While she was in custody five months before her sentencing, Abul-Khair published a poster wishing Mallouhi a \u201cHappy Birthday.\u201d<\/a> He had earlier written several posts in support of another Syrian blogger, Tarek Omar Bayassi<\/a>, who was released from jail in August 2010 after serving three years.<\/p>\n

Syrian Security probably took offense from Abul-Khair’s last post<\/a>, dated January 17, hailing the uprising in Tunisia and hoping it would be copied elsewhere in the Arab world. Here is, in part, a liberal translation from Arabic of what he wrote in this post:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cInspired by the revolution\u201d<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u201cChange is possible. That, in simple words, is the banner of the current phase — the banner of what has now become globally known as the Jasmine Revolution.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough jasmine is Damascus\u2019 exclusive hallmark\u2026 the Tunisian revolution\u2019s circumstances mirror Damascus — and much so.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than 20 long years of oppression, simmering resentment, frustration and oppression impelled that revolution [in Tunisia].
\n\u201c\u2026 Change is possible, but by revolution!<\/p>\n

\u201cRevolution \u00e0 la <\/em>Tunisia is likely elsewhere for many reasons. Indeed, the oppression, frustration, injustice, repression and arbitrariness suffered by Tunisians are not greater than the oppression, injustice and arbitrariness afflicting other Arabs. The latter\u2019s impetus and motivations [for change] are stronger.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 Free Internet should enter the home of every student in our Arab countries. Ways and means to exploit [the World Wide Web] to bring about revival and change are paramount for all those who love and aspire for freedom\u2026\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On September 1, 2010, Abul-Khair published a more sanguine but cryptic mini-post about his discharge from military service. In his words:<\/p>\n

\n\u201cCurtains fall on my military life\u2026 I was discharged today!\u201d<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank God, I completed my compulsory and strict military service.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m now a civilian.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy go into details?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat benefit the thoughts of the military?<\/p>\n

\u201cI shall shut out my military memories. I shall erase what I registered in my mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was discharged and I look forward to life \u2013 eagerly and passionately.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was discharged. That\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MICH CAFE, F.NAJIA: Syrian Military Security this week arrested another native blogger, Ahmad Abul-Khair, on his way back to Damascus from the coastal city of Banias. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":4273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,63],"tags":[4902,105,703,4897,191,18330,4899,18322,18302],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4272"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}