Translation of the statement made by the
Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression
Police of immigration and passport
control arrested the Syrian blogger and activist Razan Ghazzawi today
afternoon, Sunday 4-12-2011. She was arrested at the Syrian-Jordanian
borders as she was on her way to attend a workshop for advocates of
press freedom in the Arab world in Amman. She was to represent the
Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression.
Razan works as the media coordinator at
the aforementioned center. She received her bachelor in English
literature from Damascus university and has a Master’s degree in
comparative literature from the University of Balamand, Lebanon. She
wrote her master thesis on a short story collection by the Iraqi
author Sham’oon Blas, who lives moving between Paris and Palestine,
discussing how the nationalist discourse of the previously-colonized
nations impacts the formulation of identity in their post-colonial,
modern state.
Razan has written many articles and
literary and media contributions, and started her own blog in 2009
(Razaniyyat;
http:// razanghazzawi.com).
The Syrian Center for Media and Freedom
of Expression strongly condemns the arrest of the colleague and
blogger Razan Ghazzawi and sees in her arrest a continuation of the
suppression of the civilian society and a miserable attempt at
aborting freedom of expression in Syria. The center also demands that
the Syrian authorities stop their systematic harassment against
Syrian bloggers and journalists and that blogger Razan Ghazzawi and
all the detainees in Syria be released. Moreover, the center holds
the Syrian authorities responsible for any physical or psychological
damage that the blogger might undergo.
Damascus 4-12-2011
