Prominent Syrian content creator and activist Hassan Akkad was arrested in Damascus on Wednesday, Syria's state television reported.
The public prosecutor said the government cybersecurity team had received complaints against Mr Akkad alleging “online defamation, insult and slander”.
“He was therefore held at the criminal investigation branch until his statement was recorded until the initial investigations could be presented to court in due process.”
Mr Akkad had started a campaign called “pay back the money you owe” – a call for wealthy businessmen to make good on donations they had pledged for reconstruction work in Syria.
The campaign said in a statement that he was arrested at a coffee shop in the Al Maliki neighbourhood of Damascus. He was with other journalists when five security officers entered the cafe, the campaign said.
“All officers were in plain clothes, two were masked and some were carrying rifles.”
The campaign said in the statement that Mr Akkad and his lawyers had not been informed of outstanding warrants or summonses. “No legal bases for arrest on June 17 was presented at the time of his detention,” it added.
Mr Akkad was detained previously under the Bashar Al Assad regime. Human rights activist Celine Kasem said she was with Mr Akkad when he was arrested.
“The fact that we are still operating under the same legal framework inherited from the Assad regime is deeply disappointing,” she wrote on X.
Ms Kasem said accountability should be directed at people accused of war crimes and corruption, “not toward people who are trying to hold them accountable”.
