This investigation documents the continued application of Syria’s Anti-Information Crime Law No. 20 of 2022 after the fall of the former regime, and the prosecutions that have accompanied it, reaching journalists and activists over online posts. It reviews cases in which people were summoned or detained through the Anti-Cybercrime Branch, alongside demands by rights groups that the law be suspended and substantially amended.
The Law and Its Issuing Authority
The legislation is titled the Anti-Information Crime Law No. 20 of 2022. It was approved by the People’s Assembly in its session of 17 March, and was subsequently issued by legislative decree by Bashar al-Assad. According to the published text, the law reorganised the criminal legal rules on information crime that had been contained in Legislative Decree No. 17 of 2012, making it an extension of an earlier legislative track rather than a newly created text.
The Scope of Criminalisation and Its Limits
The law criminalises acts including hacking, fraud, extortion and violation of privacy. Its application, however, extended to the prosecution of posts addressing public affairs, and to the detention of journalists and activists for criticising a corrupt government employee. Prosecution also reached posts discussing the crimes of the former regime, and people who had criticised merchants who helped consolidate the ousted regime, shifting the text from protecting individuals online to regulating expression on public matters.
Continued Force After Liberation
The Ministry of Justice confirmed that legislation in force remains in effect until it is amended or repealed, and the cybercrime law remained among the Syrian laws in force after liberation. The ministry pointed to subsequent measures to regulate the handling of cases connected to information crimes, and to a review of the law and a bar on applying anything that conflicts with the constitutional declaration, without that being coupled with any suspension of the existing text.
Documented Cases of Prosecution
Rights organisations and local media have documented cases in which journalists and activists were detained or summoned over online posts. Some were released, while other cases remain ongoing or unresolved. Three cases stand out in this record:
- Ibrahim Sheikh al-Shabab: detained on 3 June 2026, an engineer and a representative of those harmed by Decree 66, held by the Anti-Cybercrime Branch in Damascus following a complaint from the Damascus governorate on charges of defamation, slander and libel via social media. He was held for 6 days before being released on bail with judicial proceedings continuing.
- Hamza Abbas: summoned on 3 August 2026 to the Cybercrime Branch in Damascus over a complaint linked to a post in a WhatsApp group. He was released after several hours, and no details of the outcome of the investigation have been published.
- Ahmad Hassan al-Doghaim: detained on 14 July 2026 over a comment posted by a Facebook account said to be his, a connection his family denied. The complaint came from the public prosecutor in Idlib, the case was referred to the Cybercrime Branch, and he has not been released to date.
Calls to Suspend the Law
On 24 July 2026, Amnesty International called for the use of the cybercrime law to be suspended, holding that some of its articles criminalise forms of peaceful expression online. The organisation called for substantial amendments to the text, and for its provisions to be brought into line with international human rights standards, pending amendment of the law issued under the former regime.
These cases reveal a distance between the announced review of the law and the continuing referral of people to the Anti-Cybercrime Branch over posts on social media platforms. While some detainees were released on bail or after a few hours, other cases remain ongoing or unresolved, and no details of the outcome of their investigations have been published, leaving the law’s actual effect in practice without a complete picture.
