Arab Revolution

Syria

Econo-protests erupt in Syria

Protests erupted across Syria after the government issued a decree sharply raising fuel prices. In the oil-producing provinces of Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor, local residents blocked roads with burning tires to prevent tanker trucks from passing. Protests were also reported from Raqqa, Aleppo, Idlib and Daraa. Demonstrators are demanding the dismissal of Energy Minister Mohammed al-Bashir, who has been summoned to appear before parliament to discuss the crisis. The transitional government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa increased the minimum wage by 550% in March as part of a broader recovery plan for the country, but harsh privation remains widespread. (Photo: Enab Baladi)

Libya: roadmap to resolve division of country

Libya's rival governments agreed to hold national elections within the next two years with a view to re-unifying the country. After months of UN-sponsored talks, representatives from the country's eastern and western administrations—known as the 4+4 Committee—signed an pact on terms to restructure the electoral commission and address disputes over the process. However, representatives of Libya's Amazigh (Berber), Tuareg and Tebu (Toubou) communities have issued a declaration stating they have lost confidence in the UN Support Mission in Libya, rejecting the legitimacy of the 4+4 Committee and threatening to boycott any elections held under the current framework. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library)

Syria

Syria: Bashar Assad sentenced to death in absentia

A Damascus criminal court sentenced ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia after convicting him of murder, torture, arbitrary detention and crimes against humanity. This was the first judgment issued by Syria's own courts against the head of a government that ruled the country for decades and put down a 2011 uprising with a wave of harsh repression, sparking a war that killed hundreds of thousands of people. (Photo of early Arab Revolution protest in Syria via Fightback)

Egypt: dozens detained over Gen Z online group

Amnesty International called on authorities to immediately release dozens of people detained in Egypt over their alleged involvement with Gen Z002, a Discord-based group used to discuss political issues, criticize government policies, and host dialogue about bringing meaningful change to the country. In January, Gen Z002 organized an online poll titled "Popular Referendum to Remove El-Sisi," which asked participants whether or not they supported removing President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi from power. Reports indicated that the poll received more than 330,000 responses and spread across social media platforms through Arabic-language hashtags. (Photo: Abdelrhman 1990 via Wikimedia Commons)

Egypt: activists detained for protesting detentions

Amnesty International called on Egyptian authorities to immediately release jailed activists and uphold international law, following the arrest of a group involved in organizing a peaceful protest. Several members of the Committee to Defend Prisoners of Conscience were detained after holding an exhibition called "They Don't Belong in Prison," highlighting cases of persons unjustly detained for political reasons. They were charged with "disseminating false news," and one activist, lawyer Mohamed Abu al-Dayyar, is also facing terrorism-related charges. (Image: Egyptian Human Rights Forum)

UN rights chief calls on Tunisia to halt repression

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk urged Tunisian authorities to halt their persecution of civil society organizations, journalists, human rights activists and members of the judiciary, who have been subjected to criminal proceedings in retaliation for their criticisms of government policies and the president's consolidation of executive power. The significant and sustained decline of the human rights situation in the country has ensued since the events of July 2021, when President Kais Saied suspended parliament, dismissed the prime minister, and declared the he would rule by decree. (Image: Grunge Love)

Algeria: dissident poet may face execution

UN rights experts urged the Court of Algiers to stop the trial of Mohamed Tadjadit, noting that the reclassified charges the prominent activist now faces are punishable by death. A poet and human rights defender, Tadjadit is associated with the Hirak movement, which first arose in 2019 in opposition to then-president Abdelaziz Bouteflika and has since evolved into a wider call for political change and greater freedoms. The charges concern Tadjadit's participation in the #ManichRadhi (I am not satisfied) campaign, which mobilized social media users to express discontent with the government. Between 2019 and 2024, he had been imprisoned multiple times for participating in peaceful protests and exercising his right to freedom of expression. The UN experts stated that the new charges now being brought appear to be based on the same conduct underlying the earlier offenses, raising concerns that the "reclassification" contravenes the prohibition on double jeopardy. They stated that the Court of Algiers must halt the trial now scheduled to open, and drop all new charges that could expose Tadjadit to the death penalty. (Photo: Amnesty International)

Syria

Syria: arrest in Assad-era massacre

Syria's Internal Security Forces arrested Amjad Youssef, principal suspect in a massacre of civilians in the Tadamon neighborhood of Damascus in April 2013. Footage emerged in 2022 showing Syrian soldiers leading captives, bound and blindfolded, to a pit before shooting them. The video became one of the most direct pieces of visual evidence of extrajudicial killings by forces of the Bashar Assad dictatorship, which was finally overthrown in December 2024. The leaked footage was released as part of an investigative report prepared by researchers from the Institute for War, Holocaust & Genocide Studies (NIOD) at the University of Amsterdam. Apprehended in a rural area of Hama province following a manhunt, Youssef appeared in the footage, and is believed to have been a member of the notorious Branch 227 of the Assad-era Military Intelligence Directorate. Estimates by the Syrian Network for Human Rights indicate that the death toll in the Tadamon massacre may exceed 450 people. (Photo: SNHR)

Syria

UN Commission on Syria: protect civil society

The UN Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry on Syria (COI) announced that it completed an in-country mission to Damascus as it prepares to brief the Council in Geneva. The commissioners said they were encouraged by the growth of Syrian civil society organizations, including groups returning from exile. Still, they noted continued barriers and fears, and urged conditions that would allow civil society to operate "without restriction.” There remain legal questions about whether and to what degree authorities will tolerate independent documentation, advocacy, and victim participation, which are needed elements for credible truth-seeking, reparations design, and institutional vetting. (Image: Damascus protest against Israeli intervention in Syria. Credit: The Syria Campaign via Facebook)

Tunisia: activist gets death sentence for Facebook post

Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a statement condemning the Tunisian justice system for sentencing a man to death for Facebook posts dissenting from government actions. Saber Ben Chouchane was sentenced for posting pictures of himself at recent protests, and statements calling for citizens to take to the streets to demand the release of political prisoners on the upcoming anniversary of the Tunisian revolution of January 2011. HRW called for the Tunisian government to "stop detaining and prosecuting people solely for exercising their right of expression." (Image: Grunge Love)

Syria

Bolivia, Syria & the challenge of plurinationalism

The recent political reversal in Bolivia raises the question of whether the advances of nearly 20 years of rule by the indigenist left will survive—including a constitution that refounded the state as a "plurinational" republic. In Episode 299 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg explores how the lessons of the Bolivian experience can be applied to Syria, where the new revolutionary government faces a challenge in Kurdish and Druze demands for regional autonomy. (Photo: Aymara march in Oruro, Bolivia. Via Wikipedia)

Syria

Syria: revolution on the razor’s edge

The investigation by the Syrian transition government into the March violence against the Alawites in Latakia province has been submitted—but the full findings have not been made public, and it apparently exonerates the government of involvement. Meanwhile southern Suwayda province has seen a perhaps even deadlier eruption of violence—this time pitting Druze against Bedouin, with the role of the government similarly the source of much contestation (and fodder for Internet partisans). And a Damascus protest against the violence and for co-existence was attacked by goons. Amid all this, Israel is militarily intervening, the government looks to Turkey for military aid, and both the US and Russia still have forces on the ground—treating the country as a Great Power chessboard. In Episode 288 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg argues that the Syrian Revolution is poised on a razor's edge, ready to descend into ethno-sectarian war and authoritarianism unless political space can be kept open for the secular-democratic civil resistance that began the revolution 14 years ago. (Image: Banners read "Syrians must not shed Syrian blood" and "We reject Israeli aggression against Syria." Credit: The Syria Campaign via Facebook)