Free Razan: From Palestine to Syria

A statement issued Tuesday by a group of Palestinian bloggers urging Syrian authorities to release Razan Ghazzawi, who was arrested in early December on the Jordan-Syria border. 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 Pakistanies 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 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