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Reporters Without Borders FRIDAY 18 MAY 2012.

Reporters Without Borders is shocked to learn of the death sentence passed today on the citizen journalist Mohammed Abdelmawla al-Hariri for “high treason and contacts with foreign parties”. He was arrested on 16 April just after giving an interview to the television station Al-Jazeera about the situation in his hometown of Deraa.

“Such a verdict is unacceptable and out of all proportion to Mohamed al-Hariri’s so-called crime of giving an interview to Al-Jazeera,” the press freedom organization said.

“The government of Bashar al-Assad has thus shown the extent of its brutality and cruelty. Reporters Without Borders calls for this contemptible verdict to be overturned and for this citizen journalist to be released immediately.”

According to the SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom, Hariri was subjected to horrific torture after his arrest, to the point of being partially paralysed. After the verdict was pronounced, he was transferred to Saidnaya military prison north of Damascus.

Hariri gave regular interviews to Al-Jazeera about the situation on the ground in Deraa in southern Syria, such as this one on 15 April. The Syrian government has accused the Qatari-based station and other foreign media outlets of being part of a global plot to cause chaos in Syria.

Reporters Without Borders lists Assad among 41 predators of freedom of information. Several media workers, citizen journalists and cyber-activists have been killed by the government since the start of the year and dozens more are currently languishing in Syria’s prisons.

مردم مظلوم سوریه ماههاست که زیر شدیدترین انواع بی رحمی از سوی رژیم فاشیست بعثی این کشور هستند. بیش از 1500 نفر کشته و دهها هزار نفر آواره هستند و این رژیم بی رحم به جنایات غیر انسانی خود بی پروا ادامه میدهد. سکوت جامعه جهانی در این زمینه غیر قابل قبول است. هر انسان شرافتمندی در هر گوشه از جهان البته باید که در این زمینه گامی هر چند کوچک برداشته و دولتهای جهان را تحت فشار گذارد که به این همه قساوت قلب و بی شرافتی و تروریسم دولتی پایان دهند

Souk El Bzourieh is a historical monument, one of the most important souks of Old Damascus. If this one goes, it will beginning of the destruction of whole of Old Damascus. Soon enough there will be no Souk Hamidieh, no Citadelle and God knows what will happen with Omayyad Mosque.

They already started with Bab Charqi, Madhat Bacha, Al Manakhlieh and many others...

Selling the land of El Bzourieh to build some touristic project would not make the place more famous neither more beautiful. Tourists wouldn't care much to see a big mall instead of the charming little shops of El Bzourieh. This is absurd. We cannot let this happen.

What will become of Damascus if these destructive actions continue. What will happen if we turn our backs and let them flatten our Old Town.

It is there where our identity lies. If the Old city goes, nothing of our true history will last. How can we explain to next generations that once instead of tall buildings and shopping malls we had little souks and small shops which people from around the globe came to see.

We need to stop them in every mean and every way. Not stand still and watch our heritage go down.

We need to awaken people's awareness of the importance of such a place. We need to let our voice rise to reach concerned persons to reconsider the destruction order.

We simply cannot let this happen. It will be like letting go of the last straw that we are hanging on to which is our true identity.