1822 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. A letter signed by 141 Iranian journalists has expressed support for their detained colleague, Bahman Ahmadi Amoui.
The journalists express concern that Ahmadi Amoui was imprisoned for his critical articles on the economy, noting his exile to Rajai Shahr Prison and transfer to solitary confinement.
Ahmadi Amoui was arrested just after the June 2009 Presidential election. He was sentenced in January 2010 to seven years and four months in prison.
13 martyrs were reported in Homs; 11 in Deir Ezzor; 10 in Hama, most of whom were martyred in the Souran massacre; 6 in Aleppo; 5 in Daraa; 4 in Idlib; 3 in Damascus Suburbs,1 in Damascus and 1 in Jableh.
1828 GMT:Syria. These fighters in the Free Syrian Army claim to have destroyed 12 armored vehicles in Khan as Subil, Idlib (map).
They also claim to have captured the BMP armored vehicle, visible in the bottom of the frame:
2125 GMT:Syria. In an interview on Iranian state television, President Assad has drawn a line against an outside solution for the Syrian political crisis: "We will not accept any non-Syrian, non-national model, whether it comes from big countries or friendly countries. No one knows how to solve Syria's problems as well as we do."
Assad also offered no sign of relenting in the military campaign against opposition:
The responsibility of the Syrian government is to protect all of our residents. You have a responsibility to eliminate terrorists in any corner of the country. When you eliminate a terrorist, it's possible that you are saving the lives of tens, hundreds, or even thousands.
2024 GMT:Syria. Assad's military may have suffered many losses today, but they inflicted incredible damage in the process, mostly to civilian areas. This video, for instance, shows shells falling around an important mosque in Talbiseh, north of Homs (map):
2003 GMT:Tunisia. The Ministries of Interior and Defense have declared a night-time curfew in the capital Tunis and seven other suburbs and cities following clashes with Salafi Islamists and other protesters angered by an art exhibition they say insults Muslims (see 1234 GMT).
The curfew begins at 9 p.m. and ends at 5 a.m. and will be enforced throughout the capital, the suburbs of Ben Arouss, Ariana, and Manouba, and the cities of Sousse, Monastir, Jendouba and Ben Guerdane.
President Assad believed the main obstacle was the actions of militants. Clearly, all parties must cease violence. But equally clearly, the first responsibility lies with the Government.
Since then, shelling of cities has intensified. Government-backed militia seem to have free rein with appalling consequences. Yes, some detainees have been released, and agreement has been reached on modalities for humanitarian assistance. But the hour demands much more. And President Assad has not indicated a change of course in his recent address to the National Assembly.
2030 GMT:Syria. Back from an extended academic break to find that UN monitors returned to their base in Hama after being unable to visit the site of Wednesday's mass killing in the village of al-Qubeir.
Several people from Mazraat al-Qubeir and Marzaf villages in Hama countryside narrated the horror and crimes which were committed by the armed terrorist groups against them, revealing the reality of the horrific crime which took place in their village last night as 9 citizens were killed with cold blood.
In phone calls with the Syrian TV, Abu Hawash, a citizen from Mazraat al-Qubeir village, said that armed terrorists who had RPG launchers and PKC machineguns stormed the area and attacked children and women, calling on the Syrian army and law-enforcement forces to protect them from the terrorists.
Another citizen denounced the bloody satellite channels which are counterfeiting the truth to serve their interests.
For his part, Abu Mohammad said an armed terrorist group infiltrated to Mazraat al-Qubeir and killed 9 citizens, adding that after the crime took place, the residents called the authorities to protect them.
2025 GMT:Libya. Members of an elite unit set up by the Government to rein in militias have been accused of kidnapping and severely beating a prominent surgeons.
Salem Forjani, a heart surgeon working for the Ministry of Health, was seized on 17 May when he went to Tripoli Medical Centre to carry out the Ministry's order to remove the director, who was accused of links with the Qaddafi regime.
Instead, Forjani was confronted by members of the Government's Supreme Security Committee, who dragged Forjani through the hospital, beating him unconscious in front of the staff.
A fellow medic photographed Forjani being carried, shirtless and spreadeagled, down the hospital's ambulance ramp while an SSC soldier threatened to shoot unarmed hospital security staff giving chase.
The SSC troops bundled the doctor into a car and incarcerated him in a base at Naklia, a suburb of Tripoli, where he was beaten and kicked so hard in the groin that he was left with a ruptured testicle. For five days neither his family nor the Ministry of Health could find him or get confirmation that he was still alive.
Finally, after Forjani had been moved to a second facility, at Tripoli's Mitiga Airport, the SSC contacted the Ministry and released him.
1943 GMT:Lebanon. The toll from today's clashes in Tripoli between supporters and opponents of the Syrian regime has risen to nine dead and 42 wounded, according to residents and a doctor.
1919 GMT:Syria. The Local Co-ordination Committees of Syria has said that 27 people died across the country today, including 11 in Homs Province and eight in Idlib Province.
A reporter for State TV, presenting live, is hit with a shoe by a man who shouts, "The Syrian TV is a liar!".
Saturday, June 30, 2012 at 9:04
1822 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. A letter signed by 141 Iranian journalists has expressed support for their detained colleague, Bahman Ahmadi Amoui.