Shawkat Garziddin was a Syrian author and journalist affiliated with the independent magazine Rising for Freedom. On 11 July 2017, Garziddin was sentenced in absentia to two months in prison by a court in Douma, Eastern Ghouta, on charges of “defaming the image of God and hurting the feelings of Muslims” following the publication of his article titled “Papa Carry Me” which had appeared on 21 February 2017. As a consequence, the magazine’s distribution was banned and its offices, along with those of the Violations Documentation Centre, were forcibly shut down by the Army of Islam on 8 March 2017 and later attacked by a mob. Garziddin’s article had highlighted the daily suffering of Syrian civilians, but was deemed “blasphemous” by ultra-conservative and armed groups, leading to widespread backlash and threats that forced the magazine’s board to issue a public apology on 9 March 2017. The legal proceedings took place in a makeshift court controlled by the Army of Islam, responding to a Kuwaiti Publications Law article rather than Syrian national law, and operating outside recognized international fair trial standards. Later, in May 2018, the enactment of Syria’s revised Anti-Cybercrime Law (Law 9/2018) and the establishment of specialised cybercrime courts were noted to further endanger online freedom of expression and to legitimize prosecutions such as that of Garziddin and others in non-government-controlled areas.