Internet-user held in solitary for seven months for e-mailing a newsletter.

Reporters Without Borders has protested against the detention without trial for the past seven months of Abdel Rahman Shagouri, in the first known case of the jailing of a cyberdissident in Syria. Shagouri was arrested on 23 February 2003, at a checkpoint near Damascus for sending an e-mail newsletter from a banned site www.thisissyria.net (Levant News). He is being held in solitary confinement in the Saidnaya Prison (near Damascus), waiting to appear before the Supreme State Security Court, known for its brisk procedures. The international press freedom organisation is concerned about the health of Shagouri, who was reportedly tortured in detention. "We urge the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to immediately release Shagouri", said Robert Ménard, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders. "The Syrian head of state is an enthusiast for new technology. He was moreover previously head of the Syrian Computer Association. We therefore hope to be able to remind President Assad that there cannot be any sustainable development on the Internet without respect for freedom of expression," he added. Shagouri, married , lives at Birajam village near the Syrian capital. According to Amnesty International, his house was searched on the day of his arrest. Secret police also seized his computer, CD-ROMs and other computer equipment. According to information obtained by Reporters Without Borders, Shagouri was tortured while he was held at the "Palestinian section" of the Syrian military secret services where he suffered a serious head injury. He is still held in solitary confinement. He has a lawyer provided by the Human Rights Association in Syria. He was due to go on trial before a military court in December, the Supreme State Security Court, the verdicts of which cannot be challenged on appeal. He risks a jail sentence of eight to 12 years. He apparently sent on the daily e-mail newsletter of the banned site Levant News, which was inaccessible from Syria earlier this year and posts political news, particularly reports of Syrian political prisoners. The editor of the site, Obeida Nahas, has told Reporters Without Borders that a number of other Internet sites are censored in Syria and even the Hotmail.com service was temporarily suspended this year.