When governments make arrests like this due to reports, I think it adds credibility to their report, rather than the opposite.
Seems like the government is trying to force Patriotism on the people. Any government that does this is highly suspect.

In America, if a blogger publishes a report about the CIA or FBI that is not true, most of the nation just writes them off as a whack job. National Sentiment is not “weakened”. It sounds to me as if Syrian National Sentiment is already having problems, they should do more to earn the trust of the people, not oppress them.

A copy of his “false news” included with this article would be a spicy bonus. I’m interested in what that blog entry said.