Freedom of the Press 2009 - Syria

Status: Not Free
Legal Environment: 29 (of 30)
Political Environment: 33 (of 40)
Economic Environment: 21 (of 30)
Total Score: 83 (of 100)
(Lower scores = freer)

Covers events that took place between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2008.

• Although the constitution provides for freedoms of speech and of the press, these rights are severely restricted in practice. The 2001 Press Law allows for broad control over all print media and forbids reporting on topics deemed sensitive by the government – such as issues of "national security" or "national unity" – as well as the publication of "inaccurate" information.

• Defamation remains a criminal offense. In January, journalist Mazen Darwish was sentenced to 10 days in jail for defaming state institutions. His sentence was subsequently commuted to five days.

• The government strictly controls the dissemination of information. Criticism of the government can lead to legal suits, fines, harassment, and dismissal. Several journalists were reportedly removed from their positions during the year for criticism of the government and meeting with international media organizations.

• The Ministry of Information (MOI) and the Ministry of Culture and National Guidance (MCNG) routinely censor domestic and foreign publications. Currently, all Kurdish-language publications are banned, though they are still available in some areas. In February the MOI briefly halted distribution of three journals for criticizing government policies. The ban on one, Al-Hal, remained in place at year's end. The business weekly Borsat wa Aswak was suspended more than five times during 2008.

• Journalists are frequently harassed and detained. Harassment includes banishment from the country, failure to respond to accreditation requests, and extralegal intimidation. A wave of arrests continued in January following a December 2007 meeting of the Damascus Declaration, a group organized around a 2005 manifesto calling for democratic change in Syria. Twelve of those arrested, including three journalists, were sentenced in October to two and a half years in prison. Kurdish poet Muhammad Iso, who had been held incommunicado since his 2006 arrest, was reportedly released in March.

• The government and the ruling Ba'ath Party owned most newspaper publishing houses, and except for a handful of radio stations that do not broadcast news or report on political issues, Syria's radio and television outlets are all state owned. Satellite television is widely available.

• Close to 10 percent of Syrians accessed the internet in 2008. Critical journalists have increasingly used the medium to voice their dissent. However, the government has stepped up its online censorship and monitoring. Filtering of internet traffic significantly increased in 2008, as did the harassment and arrest of bloggers and online journalists. In April, access to the popular news site Syrianews.com was blocked for 10 days. At the end of the year roughly 200 websites were blocked by order of the government. Several bloggers were arrested during the year, including Tareq Bayasi, who was sentenced to six years in prison for publishing online communications that were critical of the government. While Syria does not have internet-specific laws, charges can be filed against internet users under the Press Law, the Emergency Law, and the penal code.