The Trial of a Dissident!

Kamal Labwani was interrogated today by the criminal court in Damascus. As is usual in such cases, the charges are pretty bogus and nonsensical, after all, what does contacting foreign state really means?

But Kamal did show the composure and confidence expected of him, as his lawyers noted, who themselves have been in his position not too long ago. Still, the trial of Kamal did not generate much attention in the press. Kamal has been forgotten, or at least, he was lost in that growing avalanche of jailed dissidents. This is why the idea for a freedom rally is now more necessary than ever. We cannot let people like Kamal be forgotten. We cannot let them be lost in the shuffle.

Free Ali! Free Alaa! Free Ramin! Free Fateh! Free US All!

And the list goes on. It’s pretty depressing really. The backlash against civil rights activists in the region seems to be in full force these days. Why is it a backlash? Because I believe it is closely connected to the US continuing troubles in Iraq and to the fact the Bush’s second term in office is drawing to an end. The regimes are taking a defiant stand in resonance with Ahmadinejad’s own stands. Continue reading →

From Ali to Alaa. From Syria to Egypt!

Egyptian Sandmonkey wants us to move heaven and earth on behalf of Egyptian blogger and democracy activist, Alaa, who got arrested today during a protest to support the Judiciary’s branch fight for independence. Seeing that I am a fellow blogger, an advisor to the Committee to Protect Bloggers, and a member in the international jury that voted to grant Alaa (and his wife Manal) the special award offered by Reporters Without Borders in late 2005, I say, let’s do it. Details here.

The Shape of Things to Come!

If Ali ‘Abddlah and his two sons’ family has finally managed tofind outwhere they are, the family of Fateh Jamous is stilllooking, five days after his arrest.

This is the new style that Assef Chawkat, the head of the military security apparatus which we now know was behind the dramatic disappearance of Ali and his two sons, seems to have selected for dealing with all those dissidents who were daring enough to try to bridge the gulf between the internal and external opposition groups, even when their efforts were not necessarily that successful. For, unlike his former comrade in arms, Riyad al-Turk, Fateh’s enduring old-style communist predilections had already constrained his abilities to enter into serious dialogue or strike a serious deal with any of the existing groups in Europe. Continue reading “The Shape of Things to Come!” →