A man, identified as Firas Ghanem, from al-Anaza town, administratively a part of Banyas city in northern Tartus governorate, was arrested on July 3, 2023, by the Syrian regime’s Political Security division after being summoned to one of its detention centers in Tartus city over voicing critical opinions about poor living conditions and corruption in regime-controlled areas on his Facebook page. He was taken to an undisclosed location.
Firas faces charges under the Counter-Cybercrime Law, which is used by the Syrian regime to justify the arrest of state employees and other citizens for expressing criticism of the poor living conditions in regime-controlled areas.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) notes that these charges rely on the use of deliberately vague phrasing to enable the Syrian regime to level them against anyone it wishes to arrest, torture, and prosecute due to their extremely broad nature that can be interpreted in any number of ways. In reality, these laws, which contradict the spirit of the law and of justice, are closer to being instruments of oppression for the regime’s security authorities than to legitimate legislation. The overwhelming majority of laws issued by the Syrian regime (whether decrees, or laws promulgated through the People’s Assembly which is completely subservient to the regime) explicitly violate international human rights law and alarmingly restrict freedom of expression.
It must be stressed that there is no such thing as freedom of expression for those living under the rule of the Syrian regime’s security apparatus which infiltrates every aspect of life. The aim of the Syrian regime and its policies is to silence the Syrian people and prevent any criticism and any reporting of developments on the ground, leading to violations that even affect pro-regime individuals, in tandem with the killing, arrest, and eventual permanent disappearance of the vast majority of its opponents in areas under its control. No Syrian will be able to enjoy their most basic rights without a political transition towards democracy and human rights.
