Violations against media activists | Nearly 750 activists and journalists killed, while hundreds forcibly disappeared
With the first spark of the Syrian uprising and the start of an internal conflict throughout Syria, local and international journalists, media practitioners and activists have become a target, their jobs and missions hindered that should be so that the truthwould never be known. Media activism has been exposed to many violations across the entire Syrian geography, whether in areas controlled by regime forces, jihadi factions, Syria Democratic Forces or other key powers. In this report, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights tries to shed light on violations against journalists and media activists, including abuses, humiliation, arrests, pursuit and killings.
Mounting violations
Since the beginning of the “Syrian Revolution” on March 15, 2011 to date, SOHR activists have documented the death of 748 Syrian journalists. Furthermore, 100 journalists were killed by ISIS and opposition rebel, Islamic and jihadi factions, and here is a quick breakdown:
Rebel and Islamic factions killed 13 journalists.
HTS (Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham) killed 18 journalists.
ISIS was responsible for the killing of 74 journalists, including five foreign journalists as well as an activist worked for the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Also, 38 journalists have been abducted and forcibly disappeared in areas under the control of opposition factions and Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham.
In August 2020, SOHR sources reported HTS’ arrest of the 49-year old American journalist Darrell Lamont Phelps, who had converted to Islam and changed his name to Bilal Abdul Kareem in Atma town near the Syria-Turkey border, just after the arrest of the British-born “aid worker” Tauqir Sharif, who was stripped of his British citizenship. Abdul Kareem had published a video interview he made with Sharif’s wife Racquell Hayden Best, who accused Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham of arbitrarily arresting and torturing her husband. This interview was a major reason behind Abdul Kareem’s arrest, where HTS has accused him of “relating to radical and extremist organizations”. It is worth noting that Bilal Abdul Kareem came from Libya to Syria in 2012 and worked for prominent media outlets like “CNN”, before launching his own channel on social media.
In connection to this, Observatory sources documented the kidnapping of the South African journalist Shiraaz Mohammed, who entered Syria with “Gift of the Givers” organization, supporting Al-Rahmah Hospital in Darkush town in western Idlib. On January 10, 2017, however, Shiraaz was kidnapped by masked gunmen affiliated to HTS near Al-Jamiliya area in Jisr Al-Shughur countryside on the Syria border with Iskenderun region; and nearly three years later, December 15, he was released.
SOHR also documented the arrest of the cameraman Saleh Al-Haj in October 2020 for “an ironic post he published on social media”. The media activists Anas Tarisi was also arrested for “demanding the release of his colleague, Al-Haj”.
Moreover, SOHR has documented a blatant violation against journalists by Turkish forces, when two journalists within a convoy in Ras Al-Ain city were killed during the Turkish-backed military operation “Peace Spring”.
In regime-held areas, however, SOHR activists say that Al-Assad’s regime has been clamping down on and arresting Syrian as well as foreign journalists who criticize the regime , oppose its policy or go into issues of corruption. Regime forces and their proxy militias have killed 541 Syrian journalists and eight foreign journalists. Among the total number of journalists killed by the Syrian regime there were seven females as well as five SOHR activists killed in Latakia, Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, Damascus and Rif Dimashq; while 56 other journalists died under torture in regime prisons. Additionally, Russian aircraft have killed 29 Syrian journalists.
Moreover, nearly 552 journalists have been arrested and forcibly disappeared in regime prisons. One example, among many, is the arrest of Kinan Waqaf, a journalist who was detained by regime security services in Tartus prison, after the publication of an investigative article on electricity of Tartous Governorate on a website, in addition to his “offensive” comments criticizing the work mechanism of the province’s electricity company. Rida Al-Basha, another journalist, was also arrested for similar reasons, but later left Syria after his release .
On March 10, 2019, the Jordanian government summoned the chargé d’affaires at the Syrian embassy in Jordan in the wake of the arrest of the Jordanian journalist “Omayr Al-Gharaybah” in Damascus and demanded, at the time, the immediate release of Al-Gharaybah by the Syrian authorities
While on December 11, 2019, the Syrian Observatory called upon the Malaysian authorities not to repatriate the Syrian journalist Himbervan Kousa, which would risk his life. Kousa had basically fled from Syria in 2017, after being threatened with death and elimination for his participation in disclosing atrocities and violations committed by the warring powers in Syria against civilians.
On April 4, 2019, SOHR sources revealed the regime’s involvement in the killing of the media activist Ali Osman and his brother in regime prisons.
Their parents discovered the truth about their death by accident when they were applying for a “family certificate” at the council registry office from the in the city of Homs. The parents were shocked to know that that their sons were registered as dead in the regime’s civil registry office without the knowledge of their relatives. One sonwas dead since late December 2013, and the other since 2015.
Ali Osman had accompanied foreign journalists in March 2012 while they were in Bab Omar to cover the shelling by regime forces on the area at that time.
He had witnessed the death of a number of journalists by regime shelling on the neighbourhood. He was arrested by regime forces, and then appeared on pro-regime channels after being forced to make confessions which he had nothing to do with, and then disappeared after the regime had tortured and killed him.
The Assad regime has sought to legalize the arrest and harassment of journalists and media activists by passing a law and establishing what is known as the ” Anti-cyber crime” department which apply crippling pressure on journalists and media professionals.
On the other hand, SDF-held areas have also witnessed violations against journalists and media activists. SOHR sources have confirmed the death of six activists been killed by SDF members, while five journalists had disappeared in SDF-held areas and whose fate is not yet known to date.
In April 2020, SOHR sources reported that the “Self-Administration” suspended two journalists for “violating SDF’s press laws”, while the International Coalition aircraft killed three Syrian journalists, including a journalist who was working as an activist at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in Raqqa city.
Motivating factors behind violations against journalists and media activists
The practices of repression and violations against journalists and media workers stem from a combination of several factors:
- Lack of security, spread of chaos and lack of freedom in the various areas of influence in Syrian territory.
- The desire of the various forces to obliterate and conceal the crimes and violations they are committing against the Syrians.
- Absence of a body that defends journalists, and advocate media activists and media workers in general, and explains their rights and responsibilities, and oversees the implementation of local and international media charters.
- The brain-drain among Syrian journalists, as large numbers of them have migrated abroad because of the severe restriction placed on them by various forces of influence.
Consequently, all of the above provide a clear picture of ongoing violations committed against journalists and media professionals, whether Syrians, Arabs or foreigners across the Syrian territory and in different areas of influence.
Sadly, this, in turn, has impoverished the press and media landscape in Syria, which is now considered to be among the most dangerous countries for journalists to work and live in.