SYRIA INFORMATION Date: Monday, March 28th, 2011

- American student arrested in Syria for 'taking part in protests against Arab r
ulers'-
//Link:// - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1370489/American-student-arr
ested-Syria-taking-protests-Arab-rulers.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Brief:
An American student has been arrested in Syria after taking part in a pr
otest against the regime.
Student Pathik Root, 21, from Middlebury, Vermont, is said to be safe and well but
his whereabouts are unknown.
He is the second American to be held in the country following the arrest of Moha
mmed Radwan, from Austin, Texas, on suspicion of spying for Israel.
Root, a student at Middlebury college, had been in Syria studying Arabic when he
disappeared on March 18. He is understood to have been in contact with his fami
ly since he was detained.

- Syria deploys army to keep order: Authorities release political prisoners as g

oodwill gesture -
//Link:// - http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/todays-paper/Syria+deploys+army+
keep+order/4512850/story.html
Brief:
President Bashar Assad, facing the gravest crisis in his 11-year rule, h
as deployed the army in Syria's main port of Latakia for the first time after ne
arly two weeks of protests spread
across the country. Assad, 45, who has made no direct public comment since prote
sts started sweeping Syria, was expected to address the nation, officials said,
without giving details.
The dispatch of troops to the streets of Latakia on Saturday signals gro
wing government alarm about the ability of the security police to maintain order
there. Latakia is a potentially
volatile mix of Sunni Muslims, Christians and the Alawites who constitute Assad'
s core support.
"There is a feeling in Latakia that the presence of disciplined troops i
s necessary to keep order," one resident said. "We do not want looting."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday the United States
deplored the bloodshed in Syria but that a Libya-style intervention should not
be expected.
Mideast analysts do not rule out a harsh crackdown to crush the current
demonstrations.
In another step to placate protesters, Syrian authorities freed politica
l activist Diana Jawabra, her lawyer said, along with 15 others arrested for tak
ing part in a silent protest
demanding the release of children responsible for the graffiti.
This followed news of the release of 260 political prisoners.
- Syria deploys troops after clashes -
//Link:// - http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/201132841103011
8.html
Brief:
Syria has deployed security forces to the northern city of Latakia after
violent protests left there at least 12 people dead and more than 150 injured a
mid calls for reform.
Syrian authorities have accused "armed groups" of seeking to incite sect
arian strife in the city, which has seen violent clashes between pro-reform prot
esters, security forces and
government supporters.
In London, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights released a list of 41
names of people reportedly detained by authorities on Friday. Amnesty Internati
onal has issued a list of
93 people it says have been detained. And Reuters media on Sunday reported that
two of its journalists in the country were missing.
In Sanamin, the relatives of those killed in clashes on Friday said thei
r loved ones had been demonstrating peacefully and that security forces - not gu
nmen - killed at least 10 people
there.
However, Bouthaina Shaaban, an adviser to the president, told Al Jazeera
's Cal Perry that "what happened in Sanamin, it was not a protest, it was not a
demonstration, it was a group of
about 10 people who attacked a police station".

- Is Syria About to Jettison Its Emergency Law? -

//Link:// - http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2061730,00.html
Brief:
But, suddenly, as Syria experiences the onslaught of the Arab Spring, th
e emergency law is becoming the regime's sacrificial lamb. Just days after annou
ncing that a committee would
be formed to study lifting the nearly half-century-old law, Syria's presidential
adviser Buthaina Shaaban told several foreign journalists on Sunday that the me
asure would "absolutely" be
repealed. She did not, however, say when that would happen.
The imminent repeal of the emergency law was welcomed by Ziadeh and othe
r dissidents contacted by TIME. They nonetheless cautioned that in practical ter
ms it may not mean real
change. In theory, repealing the law will activate "about 40 items in the consti
tution which were frozen because of it, like freedom of speech and the right to
demonstrate," says
Ayman Abdel-Nour, a former Baathist and longtime friend of Assad's, who now live
s in self-imposed exile in Dubai, where he edits the independent website All4syr
ia.org. But in practice,
he fears that just as the old law is discarded it will be replaced by a new, tou
gher one, enacted so that, in essence, Assad "will take with one hand what he ga
ve with the other."
In addition, security forces are likely to continue to enjoy immunity fr
om prosecution, a condition that affords them huge amounts of power. A separate
act, Legislative Decree 14,
issued in 1969, says that "no legal action may be taken against any employee of
General Intelligence [the dreaded Mukhabarat] for crimes committed while carryin
g out their designated duties,
except by an order issued by the director."
- Microsoft Disables HTTPS For Hotmail Users In Iran, Sudan (and More)
//Link:// - http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/03/microsoft-disables-https-for-hotma
il-users-in-iran-sudan-and-more/
Brief:
Governments in Bahrain, Algeria, Syria, Iran and the Sudan are all free
to snoop their citizens Hotmail accounts today, as Microsoft has inexplicably dis
abled HTTPS support for Hotmail
users in those countries.
Equally disturbing is how quickly Microsoft seemingly abandoned the feat
ure (at least in the listed countries, as it is still active in Europe and the U
.S.).
For Microsoft to take such an enormous step backwards undermining the sec
urity of Hotmail users in countries where freedom of expression is under attack
and secure communication is
especially important is deeply disturbing. We hope that this counterproductive and
potentially dangerous move is merely an error that Microsoft will swiftly corre
ct.
Twitter: #Syria Taken 8:11 AM PST
//cnnbrk: 2 Reuters journalists reported missing in #Syria http://on.cnn.com/fR6
I1A
:about 11 hours ago via web · Reply · View Tweet
//Zeegeuze: RT @wissamtarif: Good morning people. Secret police is not that secr
et any more in the streets of #Damascus #Syria
:7 minutes ago via web · Reply · View Tweet
//el_fahmy: RT @LilianeKhalil: Reuters reports 2 of its reporters are missing in
#Syria. TV Producer Ayat Basma & Cameraman Ezzat Baltaji missing since Saturday
night.
:7 minutes ago via TweetDeck · Reply · View Tweet