With an estimated 2,000 political prisoners there is undeniably a covert struggle going on. One young blogger, Tal Al Mallouhi, ran three websites on which she wrote poems about freedom and social justice. She was detained by Syrian authorities and eventually accused of being a US spy. Jamal, a campaiger for her release, has used Facebook to work for change: "We couldn't go on a street protest - it was forbidden", Jamal explains. "It was the first time we had an electronic protest: it made a big impact". It's not just young internet activists speaking out: rare images inside a Syrian military court show an 80 year old human rights campaigner under heavy guard. Syria shows little of the instability demonstrated in other Middle Eastern countries and yet its dissidents still struggle on. Dr Waleed al-Bunni was leader of a pro-democracy movement. Once captured he spent five years in solitary confinement. Still he, like the other men and women moving in the shadows, fights on for the love of his country: "To be without democracy, without freedom of expression is the death of a nation".