Sunday, December 04, 2011

Syrian blogger Razan Ghazzawi arrested

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

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