[The following statement was issued on 14 December 2011 by various Palestinian bloggers and activists in support of Razan Ghazzawi, a Syrian activist that was recently detained by the Syrian security forces and sentenced to fifteen years.]

We, a group of Palestinian bloggers and activists raise our voices loud and clear in solidarity with all the prisoners of the Great Syrian Revolution. We stand with all the prisoners, activists, artists, bloggers and others, all who are shouting in the streets or on various platforms demanding freedom and justice, while decrying the huge amount on injustice and oppression practiced by the Syrian regime for more than four decades.

We issue this statement in solidarity with all those Syrian activists, and with the blogger Razan Ghazzawi who was arrested on December 4th, on the Jordanian-Syrian crossing border. Razan was adamant in her support for the Palestinian cause. She was the first to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian bloggers who were not granted a visa to enter Tunisia in order to participate in the Arab Bloggers Conference. Razan posted a blog in 2008 during the massacre on Gaza titled, "The Idea of Solidarity with Gaza." She wrote, "I understand when Cubans, Brazilians, and Pakistanis stand in solidarity with Gaza. But what I do not understand is when Syrians, Lebanese, Jordanians, and also Palestinians in exile stand in solidarity. What is the meaning of solidarity in this context?”

Not only do we stand in solidarity with Razan and the other prisoners, but we also affirm that our destiny is one, our concerns are one, and our struggle is one. Palestine can never be free while the Arab people live under repressive and reactionary regimes. The road to a free Palestine comes with a free Syria, in which Syrians live in dignity. Freedom to all of the prisoners in the Syrian regime’s cells. Long live the Syrian Revolution, free from dictatorship, sectarianism, and foreign intervention.



Signatories:

Abir Kopty



Abrar Agil



Ahmed Fahoum



Ahmed Nimer



Alaa Abu Diab



Ali Abunimah



Ali AlMasri



Ali Bari



Amal Murtaja



Amani Ighbaria



Amra Amra



Anas Hamra



Asmaa AlGhoul



Bashar Lubbad



Budour Hasan



Dalia Ghorab



Dalia Othman



Deema AlSaafin



Diana Alzeer



Doa Ali



Fidaa Abu Assi



Hala AlSafadi



Hamza Elbuhaisi



Hanaa Mahameed



Huwaida Arraf



Ebaa Rezeq



Irene Nasser



Jalal AbuKhater



Khaled AlShihabi



Linah AlSaafin



Maath Musleh



Maha Rezeq



Maisaa Azayzeh



Majd Kayyal



Mariam Al-Barghouti



Meera AlBaba



Mira Nabulsi



Mohamed Jaradat



Nader Al-Khuzundar



Nadine Darwish



Nalan Al Sarraj



Nihal ElAlami



Nisreen Mazzawi



Ola Anan



Osama Ghorab



Osama Shomar



Rasha Hilwi



Rowan Abu-Shahla



Saed Karzoun



Saleh Dawabsheh



Thameena Husary



Yusra Jamous