Its president Syria Bashar al Assad ratified today the law providing for enforcement six months imprisonment to those Syros reside in the country and transmit information that “damages the prestige” of the state.
Under the previous law, only Syrian residents abroad were allowed to be sentenced to imprisonment (apparently in absentia) for spreading false information detrimental to the country.
“Any Syrian who publishes false information that harms the prestige of the state (…) will be imprisoned for at least six months,” the presidency said in a statement. The same punishment will apply to those who spread information that could beautify the “image of a hostile state”, the statement added, without specifying which countries.
A one-year prison sentence is provided “for any Syros who, orally or in writing, requests the surrender of Syrian territory».
“People across the country are living in fear of being arrested for expressing their views or for joining an opposition party, reporting or defending human rights,” the United Nations Human Rights Council said this month.
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