Media News - Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Syrian leader alongside Sarkozy at Bastille Day parade: “A dark day for press freedom”

Shortly before the start of yesterday’s Bastille Day parade on the Champs Elysées, a group of about 20 Reporters Without Borders activists demonstrated there to show their disapproval and handed out leaflets to about the state of press freedom in Syria. The demonstrators also tried to wave placards showing photos of journalists imprisoned in Syria, Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco, but were forcibly removed from the area by the police. French President Nicolas Sarkozy invited all the foreign heads of state attending the Union for the Mediterranean launch summit to join him for today's ceremonies for They included Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been condemned by Reporters Without Borders as an enemy of press freedom. In Syria, Bashar al-Assad's Baath party rigorously stifles the slightest criticism using special laws introduced under the state of emergency that began in 1963, Reporters Without Borders says. National media are supposed to “defend the interests of the nation.” Four journalists and writers are imprisoned in Syria for condemning government violence. The Syrian government's ruthless censorship also affects material published on the Internet, the group reports. Five cyber-dissidents are imprisoned in the country, including author and poet Firas Saad who was sentenced to four years in prison in April 2008 for condemning the “defeatism” of the Syrian government in a website article. (Reporters Without Borders)

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