"The UK will always uphold the right to freedom of speech"
Commenting on the sentencing of Tal al-Mallouhi in Syria today, Minister for the Middle East and North Africa, Alistair Burt calls for the blogger's release.
“I am deeply disappointed to hear that the Syrian blogger, Tal al-Mallouhi, a young woman of 19 years of age, has been sentenced by the Syrian Supreme State Security Court to 5 years imprisonment. The UK will always uphold the right to freedom of speech and I am seriously concerned that freedom of expression, including in the digital media, is not being respected. I call on the Syrian Government to abide by the international agreements to which it is a party, particularly the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
I also call for Tal al-Mallouhi’s immediate release and the release of all those who have been imprisoned solely for seeking to exercise their right to peaceful freedom of expression and association”.