Syrian activist sentenced for 3 years

Reporters Without Borders said today that cyber-dissident Habib Saleh after a court martial was sentenced to three years in prison at the end of a trial without due process in the west-central city of Homs on 16 August. He was arrested in May 2005 in Tartus, 130 km north of Damascus, and accused of spreading mendacious reports.

"The Syrian regime is not content to censor the traditional media and block access to opposition websites," the press freedom organization said. "It imprisons dissidents as well. It does everything to deny its opponents access to the Internet by monitoring online activity. Saleh's conviction for the second time is sadly evidence of this."

Saleh wrote regularly for the Lebanese daily An-Nahar. He participated in chat forums such Al-Rai's (the Democratic Party of the People in Syria) and wrote articles for websites.. He posted open letters to the ruling Baath Party criticizing the regime. His posts also described his previous spell in prison.

Saleh was previously arrested in 2001 along with nine other so-called "Damascus Spring" activists. This was a period of limited political opening after President Hafez al-Assad died and was succeeded by his son Bashar, when Saleh headed the Tartus Forum for National Democratic Dialogue. Charged with trying to change the constitution by illegal means, inciting sectarian strife and sedition, spreading mendacious reports and trying to discredit the government, he was sentenced to three years in prison in May 2002.

Syria is on the list of the world's 15 leading Internet enemies which Reporters Without Borders compiled last year.