Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Actress's Message

A message from actress and activist Fadwa Suleiman about justice, freedom, and identity in Syria

See also Syria Feature: The Sanctions Close In
Saturday's Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Prosecution Creep?

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2045 GMT: Two of the videos of demonstrations across Syria tonight, in Hama and in Tadmour in Homs Province:

2025 GMT: Activists report Razan Ghazzawi, blogger and the media officer at the Syrian Center for Media and Free Expression, has been arrested at the Syrian-Jordanian border. Her Facebook account has been disabled, raising concern that Syrian intelligence now has all her contacts from the social-networking site.

1925 GMT: Two videos from today in Syria claim to show smoke rising from houses in Homs after Syrian army's shelling. The first one is a wider view while the second one shows a closer one in Khalidiya in Homs.

1920 GMT: Video of security forces firing live rounds on protesters in Damascus as one protester is shot and carried away:

1915 GMT:A video of a protest in Jobar, Damascus in response to the refusal of security forces to hand over the corpse of Mohdi Al-Asali. It was later reported that security forces opened fire on protesters.

1720 GMT: Video of Women demonstrating in Jouret Shayah in Homs Province

1715 GMT:Another video from Syria today shows protesters in Homs, chanting "Hang Assad":

1700 GMT:Libya's former intelligence director, Abdullah al Senussi is being questioned in Tripoli about suspected nuclear sites that might not have been neutralized by Gaddafi's old regime. Abdul Nakir, the head of Libya's rebel council, told Al Arabiya that el Senussi was their bet as the official responsible for the nuclear reactor under development during the last regime had escaped to Nigera.

1625 GMT: Syrian State news agency SANA reports that the Assad regime is taking further measures to limit its partnership with Turkey, including instating tariffs on Turkish goods and backing out of a possible Free Trade Zone. In a cabinet sessions, these measures were agreed upon in retaliation of Turkey instating its own sanctions against Syria according to Sana: 

1. Ending the partnership agreement on establishing free trade zone between Syria and Turkey and all the provisions, decisions and instructions issued according to that agreement or those which are related to it, in addition to implementing the provisions of foreign trade on the Turkish goods and taking the customs duties imposed on these goods according to the tariff in force.

2. Imposing a tariff estimated at 30 % of the value of all the Turkish goods imported to Syria that would be allocated for supporting the construction of the developing villages.

3. Taking SYP 80 for each Fuel liter from the Turkish cars which leave Syria heading for Turkey. The SYP 80 represents the difference in the average of fuel price between Syria and Turkey and this will be done according to the allocated amounts (refrigerated vehicles/600 liters/…truck vehicles /550 liters/…buses /400 liters/…microbuses /200 liters/…other cars /50 liters/.)

4. Implementing transit fee on the loaded or empty Turkish trucks according to the following equation…the weight of the car (standing or empty) ton ×the distance km ×2%, and this will be taken in the Euro.

1620 GMT: Ahram Online has released a list of 19 Syrian officials that were hit with a travel ban by the Arab League. 

The list includes: 

- General Maher al-Assad, the powerful brother of President Bashar al-Assad who commands Syria's feared Fourth Armoured Division.

- Rami Makhluf, a billionaire businessman who is also the president's cousin.

- General Asef Shawqat, an army deputy chief of staff and the president's brother-in-law.

- Defence Minister General Daood Rajha.

- Interior Minister General Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shaar.

- Abdul Fatah Qudsiyeh, head of Syrian military intelligence.

- General Rustum Ghazaleh, director of military intelligence on the outskirts of Damascus.

- Ayman Jaber, member of the central committee of the ruling Baath party.

- Mohammed Jaber, a security official.

- General Jamil al-Hassan, head of air force intelligence directorate.

- General Jameh Jameh, head of the military intelligence directorate in the eastern oil hub of Deir Ezzor.

- Colonel Hafez Makhluf, the president's cousin and head of the general security directorate.

- Atef Najib former head of the political security directorate in Daraa province, cradle of the protest movement.

- Faisal Kulthum former governor of Daraa.

- Munzer al-Assad, a businessman and the president's cousin.

- Fawaz Jamil al-Assad, also the president's cousin and a security official.

- Ali Mamluk, head of Syria's general intelligence directorate.

- Dhu al-Himma Shalish, another cousin of the president who is the head of presidential security.

- Mohammed Dib Zeytun, head of the political security directorate

1615 GMT: Another video from a march in Shabwah, Yemen, against Saleh's attacks on Taiz. 

1610 GMT: Here's a video of prayers and mourning for slain protester Diaa Alrez, in Damascus's suburb of Douma. 

1530 GMT: Issandr al Amrani, amidst a wealth of information, posts this graphic of the results --- so far --- in Egypt's Parliamentary elections.

1440 GMT: The Bahrain Ministry of Interior has held a press conference about the explosion in a minibus 50 metres from the British Embassy early this morning. Some details were given about the scale of the blast, which caused no casualties or damage to the Embassy, but nothing of significance was offered about the cause.

Instead, the Ministry implied a connection with Tehran, especially in light of Tuesday's occupation of the British Embassy in Iran: "Official Iranian incitement has reactions as well as dangerous training in Syria as we mentioned before."

1410 GMT: Khalid Ibrahim of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights reports that three well-known Bahraini athletes have been sentenced to prison terms. The reason given is their participation in protests. 

1346 GMT: Al Jazeera's Rula Amin just tweeted: 

#Syria has agreed to the #Arab league suggested protocol to send monitors to #Syria according to Hizbullah's Manar TV

However, there are so far no official announcements of this agreement. 

0935 GMT: Bahrain's Ministry of Interior has announced, "A blast occurred inside a minibus parked near the British Embassy" early Sunday.

There are no reports of the cause or of any casualties.

0845 GMT: A photograph of a mass protest prayer in Nuwaidrat in Bahrain on Saturday, challenging a Government decision to build a park on the site of a demolished Shi'a mosque:

A march in Shahrakan on Saturday --- demonstrators carry a symbolic coffin in memory of those who have died in protests:

0745 GMT: In last week's first stage of the Egyptian Parliamentary elections, the two leading parties were the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, with more than 40%, and the Salafist Nour Party, with about 25%. The New York Times profiles the likely tension between the two movements:

The unexpected electoral success of the Salafis...is...presenting a challenge to the Muslim Brotherhood, in part by plunging it into a polarizing Islamist-against-Islamist debate over the application of Islamic law in Egypt’s promised democracy, a debate the Brotherhood had worked hard to avoid.

“The Salafis want to have that conversation right now, and the Brotherhood doesn’t,” said Shadi Hamid, a researcher with the Brookings Doha Center....“The Brotherhood is not interested in talking about Islamic law right now because they have other priorities that are more important. But the Salafis are going to insist on putting religion in the forefront of the debate, and that will be very difficult for the Brotherhood to ignore.”

0730 GMT: Yesterday we featured the video message from activist Razan Zaitouneh, in hiding in Syria, explaining why people were resisting the Assad regime. This morning we begin with an appeal from actress Fadwa Suleiman --- prominent in rallies in Homs, she is now also in a safe house to escape detention. She describes a dream of all Syrians to "retrieve the rights, freedom, and identity that have been stolen and to establish a civilian democracy worthy of the Syrian civilization and history" (see top of entry).

Up to 30 people, including seven regime soldiers, were killed in clashes and firing by security forces on Saturday in Syria. The Arab League, passing a travel ban on 19 Syrian officials and cutting flights to Syria by half, gave Damascus yet another ultimatum to end violence and accept observers to monitor the situation.