Media activism in Syria | 2020: nearly 100 violations against media activists and journalists…over 15 assassinations and attempts with Idlib and rebel-held areas topping the list

 

Since the beginning of the “Syrian Revolution” in 2011, journalists, media practitioners and activists have been enduring considerable pressure and blatant violations committed by all warring powers in Syria, especially with the proliferation of arms and military domination.

The double-edged media activism has contributed greatly to disclosing facts which many conflicting powers in Syria, the Syrian regime in particular, attempted to cover up or falsify.

 

The shifts and changes of the map of influence have not affected the course of the violations against media activists, as journalists and media activists are being repressed through frequent arrests, prosecutions,  prevention from practicing their profession, and hindrance of their activities under strict controls, especially in the Syrian regime’s controlled areas, areas under the control of the “Interim Government” in Aleppo, Al-Raqqah and Al-Hasakah, and areas under the control of the “Salvation Government” in Idlib which has topped the list of violations against journalists.

 

 As the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has tracked developments concerning media activism in Syria, SOHR documented 98 violations against journalists, media practitioners and activists throughout Syria in 2020, including prosecutions, kidnappings, arrests and threats. With 69 violations,  areas under the control of Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham and Turkish-backed factions in Idlib and “Peace Spring”, “Euphrates Shield” and “Olive Branch” areas topped thethe list of violations against journalists, followed by regime-controlled areas with 25 violations, then SDF-held areas with four violations.

 

The Syrian Observatory highlighted examples of violations against media activists throughout Syria in 2020, which could be summarised as follows:

 

• On September 5, regime security services arrested a journalist Kinan Waqaf who was taken later to Tartus prison, after the publication of an investigative article on electricity of Tartus Governorate on a website, in addition to his “offensive” comments criticizing the work mechanism of the province’s electricity company.

• In April, SOHR sources reported that the “Autonomous Administration” suspended two journalists for “violating SDF press laws”

• In August, HTS arrested 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 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.

 

Moreover, SOHR documented nearly 15 assassinations and assassination attempts in 2020, mostly in Idlib and surrounding countryside, and areas under the control of Turkish-backed factions operating under the banner of “Peace Spring”, “Euphrates Shield” and “Olive Branch” operations rooms. These assassinations and attempts left five journalists dead and wounded, and the fatalities were the following:

 

• The media activist Amjad Aktalati was killed in Areha city in southern Idlib on February 4.

 

• The media activist Abd Al-nasser Haj Hamadan was killed in Maarrat Al-Na’san also in February, while covering Russian airstrikes.

 

• The media activist Rasheed Al-Bakr was killed in Russian airstrikes on Al-Sham Corps’ camp in Jabal Al-Duwaylah area near Kafr Takharim in October, while he was covering the graduation of a new batch of fighters.

 

• A media activist who was killed in Al-Bab city in the east of Aleppo in areas under the control of Turkish-backed factions in December, while he was preparing a report on the outbreak of coronavirus.

 

Despite the ongoing threats by all controlling powers, we, at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, confirm that we will our workacross Syria, revealing violations against civilians wherever they are. We also renew our appeals to the international community and all international actors to intervene immediately and put an end to the Syrian conflict and the suffering of Syrian people, and call upon them not to abandon their responsibility and obligations to finding a lasting solution to the tragedy of millions of Syrians.