Syrian Observatory for Human Rights becomes Daesh’s next cyber victim

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, has become its next victim in Daesh’s propaganda war. 

The Observatory’s website was taken offline on Wednesday, after Daesh (ISIS) supporters who referred to themselves as the “Cyber Army of the Khalifah (Caliphate)” hacked into the site. 

The extremists posted a photo and Arabic text threatening Observatory Director Rami Abdul-Rahman. The doctored image showed Abdul-Rahman kneeling down by a Daesh militant in an orange jumpsuit. 

It’s not the first time the SOHR has been threatened. The monitor’s previously received similar threats from the Syrian regime and al-Qaeda, AFP reported.

“We will continue to do our work and document what is happening in Syria,” Abdul-Rahman told AFP.

Abdul-Rahman, a Syrian national who fled for the UK years ago, says he uses multiple sources on the ground to cross-verify his reports. The Observatory is often the first to report on human rights violations, such as barrel bombs, and the first to be quoted in major news organizations. 

The hackers destroyed data the monitor had collected on its servers. But Abdul-Rahman says the data was backed up and will be published on the group’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. Since then the Observatory has made at least 14 Facebook posts and 38 tweets with information on the civil war.

 

 

http://www.albawaba.com/loop/syrian-observatory-human-rights-becomes-daeshs-next-cyber-victim-717266