By Agence France Presse (AFP)

Tuesday, February 15, 2011
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
Reuters

DAMASCUS: A special Syrian security court sentenced a teenage blogger Monday to five years in jail on charges of revealing information to a foreign country, rights defenders said.
The long jail term for high school student Tal al-Molouhi, under arrest since 2009 and now 19 years old, is another sign of an intensifying crackdown on opposition in Syria in the wake of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions, they said.

Molouhi had written articles on the Internet saying she yearned for a role in shaping the future of Syria, which has been under the control of the Baath Party for the last 50 years.

She also asked U.S. President Barack Obama to do more to support the Palestinian cause. A security court charged her several months ago with “revealing information that should remain hushed to a foreign country.”
Wearing trousers and a wool hat, Molouhi was brought chained and blindfolded under heavy security to the court Monday, which convenes at a cordoned section of the Palace of Justice in the center of Damascus.
Molouhi was motionless and silent after hearing the sentence. Her mother, who was waiting in the courtyard, burst out crying after being told the sentence.

Lawyers, the only ones allowed in the closed session, said the judge – there are no prosecutors in the special court – did not give evidence or details as to why Molouhi was charged.

“Trumping up charges that imply treason as a lesson for others is quite old fashioned,” said a rights defender who has followed the case, asking not to be identified.

“Sadly, the regime has not learned any lessons from Tunisia or Egypt,” the rights defender said, referring to upheaval that brought down the Tunisian and Egyptian leaders in recent weeks.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in a statement Washington “rejects as baseless allegations of American connections that have resulted in a spurious accusation of espionage.

“We call on the Syrian government to immediately release all its prisoners of conscience; and allow its citizens freedom to exercise their universal rights of expression and association without fear of retribution from their own government,” he added.

Molouhi’s mother, who saw her only twice since she was arrested, wrote a letter to President Bashar Assad last year imploring him to release her daughter, saying Molouhi had dabbled in politics without understanding it.
Syrian officials made no comment.

Molouhi’s arrest stirred a storm in the Arab blogosphere, with numerous postings lambasting what was called indiscriminate repression. – With AFP