law.”
22
In actuality, these freedoms are limited by
other legislative provisions. Article 4(b) of the
1963 Emergency Law authorizes the government
to monitor all publications and communications. 23 That law also allows the government to
arrest those who commit “crimes which constitute an overall hazard” or other vaguely defined
offenses. 24
The Press Law of 2001 subjects all print
media—from newspapers, magazines, and other
periodicals to books, pamphlets, and posters—
to government control and censorship. 25 Printing
“falsehoods” or “fabricated reports” is a criminal
offense under the Press Law, and writing on topics relevant to “national security [or] national
unity” is forbidden. 26 Violators may be penalized
with hefty monetary fines, lengthy prison terms,
or license suspensions or revocations. 27
Furthermore, “periodicals that are not licensed as
political publications [are prohibited] from publishing ‘political’ articles”—a provision that
“amounts to blanket government censorship.” 28
Thus, although the Internet has facilitated access
to unofficial information, that information is
limited by the controls and threats codified in
Syrian law.
The government has demonstrated its willingness to punish Syrians for writing and transmitting information online. 29 Authorities have
detained individuals for e-mailing an image or
article produced by another party, for voicing
complaints about the government, and for posting original photographs of police crackdowns
on the Web. 30 These incidents have engendered
caution and self-censorship across the Syrian
Internet as a whole and within the Syrian blogosphere, which nonetheless continues to grow and
to become more vibrant. 31
ONI testing results
Testing was conducted on one of the main ISPs
in Syria, Aloola (formally SCS-Net). Although the
tests indicate that Syria now blocks fewer Web
sites than it has in the past, many sites remain
blocked.
The Web site of the Syrian branch of the
Muslim Brotherhood, www.jimsyr.com, was
blocked, though the Web site of the Egyptian
branch, the region’s largest, was available.
Two Kurdish Web sites, www.tirej.net and
www.amude.net, were blocked, as was the Web
site of the United States Committee for a Free
Lebanon (www.freelebanon.org), which campaigns for an end to Syrian influence in Lebanese
politics. The Arabic- and English-language sites
of the unrecognized Reform Party of Syria were
filtered, along with the Web sites of the Hizb alTahrir (Liberation Party)—an Islamist group that
seeks to restore the Caliphate and that remains
banned in many countries.
ONI’s tests found that 115 Syrian blogs
hosted on Google’s popular blogging engine,
www.blogspot.com, were blocked, strongly suggesting that the ISP had blocked access to all
blogs hosted on this service, including many
apolitical blogs. www.freesyria.wordpress.com, a
blog created to campaign for the release of
Michel Kilo, a prominent Syrian journalist imprisoned for his writings, was also blocked.
In the past, Syria has reportedly filtered
access to popular e-mail sites. ONI testing found
www.hotmail.com to be blocked, along with two,
relatively small Web-based e-mail sites,
www.address.com and www.netaddress.com.
None of the Arabic-language e-mail sites ONI
tested were blocked, though the Arabiclanguage hosting site www.khayma.com was.
Nearly one-third of the anonymizer sites
tested were blocked, indicating some measure of
effort to preempt circumvention.
Though most foreign news sites were
accessible, Web sites of some important Arabic
newspapers and news portals were found to be
blocked. Examples include the pan Arab,
London-based, Arabic-language newspapers,
Al-Quds al-Arabi (www.al-quds.co.uk) and AlSharq al-Awsat, (www.asharqalawsat.com), the
382
Country Summaries
22
In actuality, these freedoms are limited by
other legislative provisions. Article 4(b) of the
1963 Emergency Law authorizes the government
to monitor all publications and communications. 23 That law also allows the government to
arrest those who commit “crimes which constitute an overall hazard” or other vaguely defined
offenses. 24
The Press Law of 2001 subjects all print
media—from newspapers, magazines, and other
periodicals to books, pamphlets, and posters—
to government control and censorship. 25 Printing
“falsehoods” or “fabricated reports” is a criminal
offense under the Press Law, and writing on topics relevant to “national security [or] national
unity” is forbidden. 26 Violators may be penalized
with hefty monetary fines, lengthy prison terms,
or license suspensions or revocations. 27
Furthermore, “periodicals that are not licensed as
political publications [are prohibited] from publishing ‘political’ articles”—a provision that
“amounts to blanket government censorship.” 28
Thus, although the Internet has facilitated access
to unofficial information, that information is
limited by the controls and threats codified in
Syrian law.
The government has demonstrated its willingness to punish Syrians for writing and transmitting information online. 29 Authorities have
detained individuals for e-mailing an image or
article produced by another party, for voicing
complaints about the government, and for posting original photographs of police crackdowns
on the Web. 30 These incidents have engendered
caution and self-censorship across the Syrian
Internet as a whole and within the Syrian blogosphere, which nonetheless continues to grow and
to become more vibrant. 31
ONI testing results
Testing was conducted on one of the main ISPs
in Syria, Aloola (formally SCS-Net). Although the
tests indicate that Syria now blocks fewer Web
sites than it has in the past, many sites remain
blocked.
The Web site of the Syrian branch of the
Muslim Brotherhood, www.jimsyr.com, was
blocked, though the Web site of the Egyptian
branch, the region’s largest, was available.
Two Kurdish Web sites, www.tirej.net and
www.amude.net, were blocked, as was the Web
site of the United States Committee for a Free
Lebanon (www.freelebanon.org), which campaigns for an end to Syrian influence in Lebanese
politics. The Arabic- and English-language sites
of the unrecognized Reform Party of Syria were
filtered, along with the Web sites of the Hizb alTahrir (Liberation Party)—an Islamist group that
seeks to restore the Caliphate and that remains
banned in many countries.
ONI’s tests found that 115 Syrian blogs
hosted on Google’s popular blogging engine,
www.blogspot.com, were blocked, strongly suggesting that the ISP had blocked access to all
blogs hosted on this service, including many
apolitical blogs. www.freesyria.wordpress.com, a
blog created to campaign for the release of
Michel Kilo, a prominent Syrian journalist imprisoned for his writings, was also blocked.
In the past, Syria has reportedly filtered
access to popular e-mail sites. ONI testing found
www.hotmail.com to be blocked, along with two,
relatively small Web-based e-mail sites,
www.address.com and www.netaddress.com.
None of the Arabic-language e-mail sites ONI
tested were blocked, though the Arabiclanguage hosting site www.khayma.com was.
Nearly one-third of the anonymizer sites
tested were blocked, indicating some measure of
effort to preempt circumvention.
Though most foreign news sites were
accessible, Web sites of some important Arabic
newspapers and news portals were found to be
blocked. Examples include the pan Arab,
London-based, Arabic-language newspapers,
Al-Quds al-Arabi (www.al-quds.co.uk) and AlSharq al-Awsat, (www.asharqalawsat.com), the
382
Country Summaries