The Embassy also used Facebook to post a statement about the suspension of Embassy operations in Syria.

CNN quotes U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford as saying, “We know who’s shelling Homs. It’s not the opposition, it’s the government.”

“The armed opposition has rifles, machine guns, grenades, but it doesn’t have artillery,” he’s quoted as saying. “Only one side has artillery,”

Here’s a new visual report from Sky News:

Seriously, I’ve seen bubble gum dispensers with better security than Assad’s email account but, well, it doesn’t matter. It’s what happened to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his email account and, yes, the password to his account really was “12345.” Anonymous was able to access 78 inboxes of Assad’s aides and advisers, some of whom also used the incredible password, “12345.” That Assad puts a higher priority on slaughtering the inhabitants of the country he presides over than email security is a completely new level of wholesale revulsion.

And speaking of that atrocity, Anonymous found some peculiar information that provides a glimpse into how Assad prepared for a recent interview with Barbara Walters wherein he denied that his government was killing citizens in Syria. “We don’t kill our people,” Assad told Walters. “No government in the world kills its people, unless it’s led by a crazy person.”

One of the leaked documents was a list of talking points designed to prep Assad for his interview with Walters in December. The document is chilling with how it aims to portray the Syrian government as a unlawfully besieged entity and completely denies any of the violence inflicted upon the people of Syria. Impossibly, the document actually attempt to portray the Syrian government as the victim of the conflict by recommending Assad talk about “how many soldiers and security forces have been killed” and that “the American audience doesn’t really care about reform” so then “a brief mention of the reforms done in the past couple of months is more than enough.” It even invokes Obama’s lessened popularity as a basis for why the United States doesn’t have enough clout or moral authority to criticize Assad’s government.

Oh, and the document also says it doesn’t torture people, but I have difficulty believing that people who have been arrested and withheld by the government will agree with that claim.

The depiction that Assad offers of Syria in the interview along with how defensive this leaked memo doesn’t gibe with anybody I’ve seen on Twitter. Here’s a sample of what people are saying:

Yeah. Nobody getting killed around there.

Assad’s brutal denial of any of it only emphasizes the importance of groups like Anonymous that are willing to penetrate the sickening cover-up by governments willing to murder and terrorize its own citizens. Keep 12345-ing the hell out of those despots.

Razan Ghazzawi, the Syrian blogger who was detained earlier this month, has been tried in front of the magistrate and charged with three crimes, Amnesty International told The Daily Star.

According to her lawyer, her charges include “establishing an organization that aims to change the social and economical entity of the state” and “weakening the national sentiment, and trying to ignite sectarian strife” and “weakening national sentiment” — all of which can lead to a penalty of three to 15 years in prison.

“Weakening national sentiment.” A more obscure trespass couldn’t be offered. Everything from molotov cocktailing vehicles to demanding more foam on a latte in a Starbucks could be manipulated to fall under the crime of “weakening national sentiment.” What a farce. Worse, Syrian officials appear undeterred to continue with their kangaroo court convictions of Ghazzawi.

After no updates on her condition or legal status for days since she was arrested, Ghazzawi’s trial appears to have already occurred and was in no doubt intended to deliver a message to the rest of the media who have strived to keep the world abreast of what is happening in Syria. The Syrian government has kept a virtually complete ban on all international news media from the country which has elevated the importance of bloggers like Ghazzawi and Anas Maarawi and Hussein Ghrer, two other bloggers who have been targeted by the government. Ghrer was eventually released after posting a $1,000 bail but never formally charged with anything. Maarawi was arrested but eventually released and is still facing charges.

The blog that Ghazzawi kept, Razaniyyat, was closed down after her arrest although past posts are still available to be read.

Ghazzawi, an activist and blogger who has maintained a public profile in spite of the government’s hostile assault against anyone identified as part of the media, was arrested by government authorities on December 4th while attempting to cross Syria’s border with Jordan. Word quickly spread on Twitter and Facebook of her disappearance and demands for her release reverberated across the Internet. Supporters on Twitter contributed to the “Free Razan” cause via the hashtag #FreeRazan, in addition to a Facebook page that, as of today, claims over 4,600 followers. Al Jazeera English has covered the online support of Ghazzawi in the video below:

The most recent activity on Twitter still shows a growing concern for Ghazzawi’s fate:

Yes, you read that last tweet correctly: that was from Ghazzawi’s sister, Nadine Ghazzawi.

Stay updated on Ghazzawi’s situation on Twitter using the above hashtag or on the Free Razan Facebook page.

First Syria’s government banned virtually all foreign media from the country then, just last week, attempted to suppress citizens’ ability to dispense updates and footage of events to the world by banning anyone from possessing an iPhone. Ghazzawi’s last post on her blog before being arrested elated that fellow Syrian blogger, Hussein Ghrer, had just been released by the Syrian authorities after being detained for 37 days.

Twitter users have demonstrated their support by changing their userpics to a photo of Ghazzawi as well as unifying their support with the hashtag #FreeRazan:

In spite of the Syrian government’s outright aggression against reporters, Ghazzawi maintained her blog under her real name – a point that some have speculated made her a vulnerable target. In what could only be regarded as a deeply grim irony, that Ghazzawi’s disappearance should become a rallying point contrasts with the pragmatic if not humble importance she reserved for herself:

So for some reason, people think that my existence in conferences is useful in a way. The so-called “Arab Spring” is getting a lot of NGOs rich, and these NGOs must get “involved” in the revolutions that have swept the Arab-speaking region in 2011. Conferences love bloggers the most. The world still assumes that the revolution in Egypt was made by bloggers, and hence bloggers in Arab-speaking countries must be invited, because they must have some interesting role in their country, and not to mention how journalism always create “heroes” in every “crisis,” the Hollywood-style. I’ve said it many times on this blog and I am saying it again: “online activists are overrated,” and not just in Syria, but all over the MENA region. And the “social media + revolutions” is the stupidest and most irritating topic made by ignorant “experts.”

Follow #FreeRazan on Twitter for updates on Ghazzawi’s status and further developments in this story. Additionally, Mideast Youth has compiled a list of actions for supporters to do to demand the release of Ghazzawi.

That’s a photo of the mandate (which is currently making the rounds on Twitter and Facebook) being issued to activists in Syria by the country’s Customs Department of the Syrian Finance Ministry. I am not versed in Arabic, but reports say that the slip of paper being handed out reads, “The authorities warn anyone against using the iphone in Syria.”

The Twitterscape was quick to react to the news:

Since the protests began in January, Syria has banned just about all foreign press from entering the country so devices like iPhones have been crucial in ensuring that the rest of the world has any clue as to what’s going on in Syria. One observation I can’t quite overlook is… yeah, iPhones are surging right now in popularity so of course they’re going to be targeted first, but they’re not the only hand-held device that can record photos or videos. This decision by the Syrian authorities makes about as much sense as if a government decided to prevent anybody from drinking alcohol but then only banned bourbon (I just assume that bourbon is the most popular liquor because it’s my favorite). Does the Syrian government just not know that Apple is not the be-all-end-all of smartphones? This did not go unnoticed in the reactions:

Of course, the top-shelf tweet so far goes to this astute observer:

It turns out that the person behind the “Gay Girl in Damascus” blog is actually an aspiring fiction writer from Georgia. And by Georgia I mean the state. And the ‘gay girl” is also a married guy.

Last week, a story was picked up about a pretty young girl living in Syria who had been kidnapped by state forces in the country and taken to an unknown location. The girl, named Amina, was the author of a popular blog entitled “Gay Girl In Damascus.” On June 6th, her readers were shocked to see a post from Amina’s cousin, who said that the girl had been kidnapped by “security services of the Baath party militia.”

The blog has nearly one million page views and provides followers with poetry, political statements and autobiographical content – all purportedly written by Amina, an out lesbian in Syria. The blog had even contained posts detailing encounters with anti-gay Syrians, most notably one where Amina’s father supposedly shamed two armed men out of kidnapping her in the middle of the night. Everything on the blog was reported as fact.

As the post about the kidnapping went live, it didn’t take long for the #freeAmina hashtag to trend on Twitter and a Facebook page declaring the same garnered thousands of likes in hours. When the story became national news many began to question not only the kidnapping account, but the identity of the blogger as well. Did Amina really exist?

Many on the internet, especially on Twitter, began to doubt the validity of Amina’s story. NPR’s Andy Carvin was one of the first to ask his followers if anyone had actually ever seen Amina? The answer was a resounding no. Her only interviews had been given via email and nobody could say with certitude what she looked like.

The many supposed photographs of Amina that began popping up on Facebook turned out to be unauthentic, as the Wall Street Journal broke the true identity of the girl in the photos. A London woman named Jelena Lecic came forward when her ex-husband notified her that her picture was all over various news sites.

Over the weekend, more information came out that linked the “Gay Girl in Damascus” to a man named Tom MacMaster, an American living abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland. After confronted with questions from various journalists regarding his role in the blog, he finally came clean.

The Gay Girl in Damascus blog is now entitled “A Hoax.” Yesterday, MacMaster issued this apology on the blog (still posted as Amina A.)

If you read that the way that I read that, it’s pretty far from an apology. MacMaster instead sticks by his actions, saying that he has created awareness and that he hasn’t harmed anyone.

But when you carry out interviews with the likes of CNN as Amina, you make people care about your story. And if you carry on a months-long online relationship with another woman who thinks you are real, I’m pretty sure that qualifies as harming someone. Whether MacMaster had a change of heart or just saw all the criticism he was taking on the internet, he sure changed his tune today.

Today, he has provided a much lengthier and more detailed apology, where he discusses his motivations for creating the Amina character out of thin air. According to MacMaster, the whole thing was an exercise in fiction writing –

It started innocently enough without any intention whatsoever of creating a massive hoax or duping the world. Ever since I was a child, I’ve wanted to write fiction but, when my first attempts met with universal rejection, I took a more serious look at my own work and I realized that I could not write conversation in a natural way nor could I convincingly write characters who weren’t me. I tried to get better and did various exercises (such as simply copying overheard conversations). Eventually, I would set up a number of profiles on dating sites with identities that were not my own as ways of interacting with real people in conversation but with a different personality than my own.

He says many times in this apology that he knows he has hurt people, and that he is sorry for that. He says that the whole situation spun out of control –

I wasn’t trying to pick fights or stir up controversy … I was instead trying to enlighten people. I posted comments on a blog; the owner asked me to contribute columns. I did so. I set up a blog to publish some of the things I’d written as Amina and, maybe, get a few comments. I did not expect anyone to read it or to care if they did.

And in the first month and more it was up, it received only a few visits. That was more than I had expected. Then, I wrote a perfect little story about the situation in Syria and the mutual affection between father and daughter … and to my shock, it went viral ….

And everything spiraled out of control. I couldn’t think of how to shut Amina down but …. It just kept on growing …

What a bizarre story this has turned out to be. Of course it’s the obvious move to put all the blame on Tom MacMaster for purposefully misleading everyone involved. He definitely shares the majority of the responsibility. But some blame has to be put on those who would believe everything they see on the internet.

Sometimes, the only way we can tell the difference between a novel and a history book is by its place on the shelf in the bookstore. On the internet, we don’t get convenient groupings, so I guess the moral of this story is to always stay vigilant. Always know that when you emotionally invest in someone’s life story online, there’s the chance that it is simply an elaborate work of fiction.

Here are some of the most poignant tweets about the story:

[Image via Picasa via NPR]

Amina Abdallah runs the popular blog “A Gay Girl in Damascus,” which is described as “an out Syrian lesbian’s thoughts on life.” Her blog posts include poetry, personal stories and commentary on the recent violence sweeping Syria as the government cracks down of anti-regime protesters.

On Monday, a post appeared on the blog reportedly from Amina’s (full name Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari) cousin. She reported that Amina had been abducted by three uniformed, armed men near a bus station. She was thrown into a red van and taken to an unknown location. From the post:

The men are assumed to be members of one of the security services or the Baath Party militia. Amina’s present location is unknown and it is unclear if she is in a jail or being held elsewhere in Damascus.

The cousin later posted an update, saying that Amina’s father is desperately trying to find out where she is, but all they know right now is that she is in fact missing.

“A Gay Girl in Damascus” had become popular partially thanks to a post entitled “My Father, the hero.” In this post, Amina details an event where her father averted her kidnapping from her home by two armed men by shaming them into leaving.

Not only did the traditional media jump on the story, but the internet exploded as well. #FreeAmina began to trend on Twitter and a Facebook page popped up entitled “Free Amina Abdalla, Syrian Blogger.”

Now here’s where the story gets really interesting. A particular photo (see left), supposedly of Amina, was posted to the newly erected Facebook page and the media, both internet based and traditional, used the photo to identify Amina. It appears, however, that the picture that was circulating may not actually be Amina.

According to the WSJ, a London woman is saying that the photos supposedly of Amina Abdallah are actually in fact photos of her. The woman, Jelena Lecic, provided proof in the form of more photos that appeared to match the ones being passed off as Amina. Apparently Lecic’s ex-husband spotted the photos being circulated as Amina and recognized his ex-wife.

NYT blogger Robert Mackey just tweeted this, about the alleged photos’ similarity to Lecic’s Mypace account photo.

Here’s a screencap from her profile photo, as all the rest are set to private:

Many are also beginning to become skeptical about the existence of Amina, as it is coming out that nobody has really ever met Amina face to face. She has been interviewed by CNN, the BBC, and Al Jazeera but only via email.

NPR’s Andy Carvin asked this question via Twitter, and is having trouble finding any takers:

Sandra Bagaria, who is identified as Amina’s girlfriend, apparently has never seen her either. Their relationship is totally virtual, not even having seen each other via Skype. From the NYT Lede blog:

Although it remains possible that the blog’s author was indeed detained, and has been writing a factual, not fictional, account of recent events in Syria, readers should be aware that the one person who has identified herself — to The Times, the BBC and Al Jazeera — as a personal friend of the blogger, Sandra Bagaria, has now clarified that she has never actually met the author of the Gay Girl in Damascus blog. Ms. Bagaria told The Lede that she had also never conversed with Ms. Arraf face to face via Skype, but had conducted an online relationship with her since January entirely through Internet communications in writing, including more than 500 e-mails.

This sure is a compelling story, as somebody wrote all those blog posts, even if “Amina” doesn’t really exist. The flip side of this is that she may very well exist, and has simply kept an extremely low profile on purpose. If a person has actually been taken and is being held for some blog postings, it doesn’t matter if it’s a man or woman, or if their name really is Amina – or what they look like. It’s a fascinating and deeply troubling story.

The social media angle in all of this is compelling as well. It demonstrates, once again, how something can catch fire so quickly on Facebook and Twitter, while the facts don’t even come close to adding up. It’s fascinating to think that it’s possible that Amina was somehow crafted out of thin air, and given life on the internet.

Perhaps someone will bring this up when the Syrians arrive for the Annapolis conference, but probably not, especially if Bush Administration wonks think they can extract some concessions from Syria over Hamas. Facebook censorship isn’t going to take up time on the Annapolis slate.

Ammar al-Qurabi, head of the National Association for Human Rights, said in the Reuters piece, “We have asked officials and they said Facebook could become a conduit for Israeli penetration of our youth, but the real reason for blocking the forum because it provides for criticism of the authorities.”

Such criticism has been part of building a part of Syrian society that isn’t under the grip of its government. Criticism has been part of American society all the way back to Thomas Paine, but it probably won’t rate a mention when the conference begins along the Chesapeake Bay.

“They cut off communications between us and the outside world. We are used to this behavior from our government,” Mais al-Sharbaji said in Reuters.

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