[huridocs-tech] Syria: Three years in prison for Kurdish journalism student who posted photos on website

RSF Press release
11 October 2004

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the three-year prison sentence
imposed yesterday by the state security court on journalism student
Massoud Hamid, a member of Syria's Kurdish minority who was found guilty
of "belonging to a secret organisation" and "trying to attach part of
Syria's territory to a third country."

Calling for his immediate release, the organisation said "the trial was
completely unwarranted as he was just exercising his right to circulate
information freely on the Internet." Hamid has already spent more than 14
months in prison,

"The severity of the sentence shows the Syrian authorities want to gag the
press in flagrant violation of the international treaties they have
signed," Reporters Without Borders added.

Aged 29 and in his second year of journalism school, Hamid was arrested
during an exam at Damascus university on 24 July 2003, a month after
posting photographs of a peaceful Kurdish demonstration outside UNICEF
headquarters in Damascus on www.amude.com, a Kurdish-language site based
in Germany. The demonstrators were demanding respect for the civil and
political rights of Syria's Kurdish population.  Following his arrest,
Hamid was detained in Adra prison near Damascus where he was reportedly
subjected to mistreatment.

Internet access is limited to a privileged minority in Syria. The
authorities filter online content and monitor e-mail closely. At least one
other person is currently in prison for posting information online or just
e-mailing content taken from a banned site.



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