[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