3 Journalists killed in August, violations on the rise again

August 2017 report 1 Violations against Media

3 Journalists killed in August, violations on the rise again
Introduction
After a two-month drop in the violations against journalists in Syria, the curve
began to rise again in August 2017 because of the renewal of clashes on more
than one front, and the continued hunt down and arrest of media activists by
active actors on Syrian territory.
The Syrian Center for journalistic Freedoms of the Syrian Journalists Association
documented 21 violations in August 2017. The ﬁgure shows a signiﬁcant increase
in violations compared to that of June and July combined which is 19 violations.
Violations against journalists in August varied between killing, injury, or detention
and also included beating, kidnapping and arbitrary denial of practicing media
work.

For the second month in a row, armed opposition factions topped those
responsible for violations. Jaish al-Islam committed four violations. The same
number of violations was committed by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), while Ahrar
al-Sham Islamic Movement committed one.
Both the Syrian regime and the organization of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
(ISIS) committed three violations, while the Democratic Union Party (PYD)’s
Asayish committed two.
Lebanese public security and the administration of Orient News channel
committed one violation, while those responsible for the remaining two violations
were not identified.
The most significant violations documented by the center in August were the
killing of three journalists, including a military journalist, and wounding three
others,Jurist Nour Ghazi al-Safadi confirmed the execution of her husband, the
Palestinian-Syrian programmer Bassel Khartabil al-Safadi, by the Syrian regime
in 2015 after three years of detention.

Also, ISIS executed the media activist Ali Yousuf al-Radi in al-Mayadin city in Deir
al-Zor’s eastern countryside, while the media activist Hayyan Fadi al-Ammari died
of wounds he sustained in an explosive device attack in Daraa, south of Syria,
bringing the number of killed journalists and media activists documented by the
center since March 2011 to 414.
In the same context, security risks still beset journalists and media activists,
especially in northern Syria after Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) controlled Idlib
province entirely following several battles, during the past months, with Ahrar al-
Sham Islamic Movement. The last of such battles was the battle to seize Bab al-
Hawa border crossing.
HTS detained the journalists Ahmad Abidin, Bahaa al-Sweid ;Abdulhamid
Mustafa and Ali al-Marai and released them after brief detention.
In Damascus’ countryside, members of Jaish al-Islam detained the media activist
Munib Abu Taim and seized his media equipment after a raiding his house, while
The autonomous administration’s authorities of the Democratic Union Party

(PYD) in al-Hasakah continues to detain the media activist Alan Salim Ahmad
despite the end of his sentence.
As for the geographical distribution of violations, Damascus’ countryside
witnessed 6 violations against free media, the freedom of opinion, and the
freedom of expression.
Security chaos in Idlib, Hama and Hasaka caused two violations in each
province. In Raqqa, a similar number of violations was recorded while there are
continuous clashes between ISIS and the Syrian Democratic Forces.
The provinces of Aleppo, Deir al-Zor, Daraa, Homs, and Damascus all witnessed
one violation each, while two violations were committed outside Syria.
The Court of First Instance of the Second Criminal Court of the Supreme
Judiciary Council, afﬁliated with Jaish al-Islam faction, in Damascus’ eastern
countryside ruled that the publication of “Tle’na al Horriya” magazine in the
liberated areas in Syria will be prohibited, and Two months jail time for journalists.
5/9/2017
Syrian Journalist Association
Syrian Center for Journalistic Freedom

Standards Followed in Documenting Violations
The SCJF follows specific standards, according to international laws and
regulations to protect media professionals, in documenting the violations
committed against media professionals and activists. The SCJF documents
violations against media professionals perpetrated by all parties to the conflict in
Syria and violations against Syrian media professionals that occur outside Syria.
The SCJF maintains professionalism, transparency, and accuracy in gathering
and documenting the information and positioning it in its proper legal framework.
The center takes as its launch point its belief in its duty to document the violations
that occur against media professionals and to protect them and their future rights
to reparation, and ensure that the perpetrators will not escape punishment. The
center aims to reach a free and unbiased media to achieve justice and equality in
the future Syria.
 
These standards include  
1. Media Professional Victims: The SCJF documents violations against media
professionals in Syria, regardless of their nationalities, sex, race, sect or
employer, or the aggressor. The center documents attacks on Syrian media
professionals outside Syria. The center documents violations against media
offices, centers, and organizations. The center does not publish news of
violations if the victims or their relatives request it. 
2. Violation During Media Work: The SCJF documents violations against media
professionals while they are undertaking media related work, regardless of if they
were directly or indirectly targeted. For example, the center documents the injury
suffered by a media professional during indirect bombardments or shooting while
s/he films or documents events. The center does not document the case of a
media professional injured in similar circumstances if s/he is doing a task
unrelated to media work such as rescuing victims, or the media professional was
among the victims of indiscriminate bombardment while not undertaking
professional work. The center does not document cases of media professionals
dying from natural causes or reasons unrelated to media work such as natural
death or traffic accidents. 
3. Media Professionals Involved to Armed Action: The SCJF refrains from
documenting attacks against media professionals involved in armed action such
as carrying or transporting weapons, even if in self-defense. The center refrains
from documenting violations against media professionals based on their mistakes
such as wearing military uniforms or raising military symbols which make it

difficult to distinguish the media professional from fighters, and render the media
professional a possible target. The center documents violations against media
professional who left armed action and cut his link to armed action according to
this standard. 
4. Media Professionals in Armed Forces: The center documents violations
against media professionals affiliated with armed forces provided that they are
not involved in the armed action according to the previous criterion. However, the
center documents the violations against these media professionals in a separate
section as described in the first standard about media professional victims. In its
reports, the center refers to these media professionals’ affiliation to armed
battalions. The violations against them are not included in the quantitative data
on the number of violations against media professionals. They are relegated to a
separate section of the database. 
5. Definitions: The SJA’s rules of procedure apply especially, the articles relating
to the definition of media professional, journalist and citizen journalist in case of a
conflict between these terms. 
(1) Media Professional: A term that includes journalists, citizen journalists and
everyone who works in the media field. 
(2) Journalist: A person who practices the profession of journalism and earns
most of her/his income from it. S/He may be associated with an official contract to
an agency or media outlet or several media outlets, or works as a freelancer.  
(3) Citizen Journalist: Any person who works in media profession who does not
fall under the previous definition, whether he works independently, was affiliated
with centers or bodies or media outlets. 
(4) Violation: Any physical or moral attack on a media professional or his/her
equipment that causes physical or moral harm to him/her or prevents him/her
from working freely.

Killing of Journalists
(1)Jurist Nour Ghazi al-Safadi confirmed on
Tuesday January 8, 2017 the execution of her
husband, the Palestinian-Syrian programmer
Bassel Khartabil al-Safadi, by the Syrian
regime in 2015 after three years of
detention. Al-Safadi was arrested on the first
anniversary of the Syrian revolution, March
15, 2012.
Al-Safadi’s execution came after the
regime’s military court issued an execution
order in early October 2015 after he was taken from Adra Prison to an unknown
destination. He was executed a few days later.
Al-Safadi, who was born in Damascus in 1981, was one of the most famous
programmers in Syria. He worked in the field of open source software. He was
active in working with Mozilla Firefox and Wikipedia before the Syrian revolution.
He also served as a technical director and was the founder of several research
projects and companies, including a project for an organization called Creative
Commons in Syria.
(2)On Monday August 21, 2017, the media
activist Ali Yousuf al-Radi was executed by
ISIS using firing squad in al-Mayadin city in
Deir al-Zor’s eastern countryside on charges of
"illegal media work". ISIS also prevented his
family from receiving condolences after al-
Radi was buried in an unknown location.
Al-Radi worked in the media field to convey
the news and living conditions of Al-Mayadin’s
population. He was a correspondent for and
used to publish on al-Mayadin al-Yawm Facebook page, which was closed by ISIS
after arresting al-Radi. He was arrested while he was posting on the page from an
internet café in the city.
documented the execution of five journalists from Deir al-Zor by ISIS in June 2016.
ISIS released a video entitled "The Devil's Revelation,” in which it showed the
execution of the journalists.
Bassel al-Safadi
Ali al-Radi

Killing of Military Journalists
Media activist Hayyan Fadi al-Ammari died
on Friday August 18, 2017 of wounds he
sustained in an explosive device attack in
southern Syria during his coverage of
events on the fronts.
Al-Ammari worked as a military journalist
with Quwat Shabab al-Sunna (Sunna
Youth Forces) faction of the Free Syrian
Army in Daraa. He was born in 1995 in
Namer village in the northeastern
countryside of Daraa Province.
Abu Mahmoud al-Hourani, a media activist, said in a statement to the Syrian
Center for journalistic Freedoms that al-Amari died of shrapnel wounds he
sustained after an improvised explosive device, planted by unidentiﬁed
individuals, targeted him on the road between al-Gharieh al-Sharqieh and al-Soura
villages in Daraa’s northeastern countryside. Al-Ammari was operating as a
military journalist, covering battles and military operations in that area, according
to al-Hourani.
Al-Hourani added that the explosion also killed four members of Quwat Shabab al-
Sunna and wounded another seriously.
Injury of Journalists
On Thursday August 3, 2017, correspondents Radwan
Rashid Osman and Alaa Abdulsalam Mulla Saadoun were
injured while covering the ﬁghting between ISIS and the
Syrian Democratic Forces. The two were injured after an
ISIS car bomb exploded near their location in al-Mashlab
neighborhood, east of Raqqa. This is the second
targeting of the two journalists after they were
targeted by ISIS in June.
Osman told the Syrian Center for journalistic Freedoms
that an ISIS member blew up the building where the two
were hiding, which led them to suffer shrapnel wounds.
Their equipment, including cameras, mobile phones,
recording devices, etc., was burnt as well. He pointed out that a vehicle belonging
Hayyan al-Ammari
Radwan Bezar

to Arab 24 agency, which was full of
equipment, was also burned, while the
agency’s photographer, who was on the roof
of the building, survived.
Osman, known as Radwan Bezar, works as a
correspondent for Kurdistan 24 channel,
while Saadoun, who was born in Ain al-Arab
in 1995, works as a correspondent for Smart
Agency and a photographer for NRT channel.
The Syrian Center for journalistic Freedoms in the Syrian Journalists Associations
documented in its monthly report for June 2017 that Bezar and Saadoun, along
with the correspondent of Al-Ittihad Press, Rustom Abdulqader, were injured by
shrapnel of an ISIS bomb dropped from a drone on their location in Raqqa while
they were covering battles there.
Injury of Military Journalists
On Tuesday August 1, 2017, media activist Younis Salama
was injured by the Syrian regime’s artillery shelling which
hit the area where he was operating near the town of al-
Mahroutheh in the Syrian desert in Homs’ eastern
countryside. Salama was covering clashes between Jaysh
Osoud al-Shraqiah and the regime forces.
Media activist Bassam Shehail al-Ezz told the Syrian Center for journalistic
Freedoms: "Salama sustained shrapnel wounds in his head as a result of the Syrian
regime’s artillery shelling during the coverage of clashes in the Syrian desert.
After that, he was transferred to a nearby make-shift hospital, and he is now in a
good health condition.”
Salama works as a military journalist for Jaysh Osoud al-Sharqiah faction. He was
born in al-Ashara city in Deir al-Zor’s countryside. He is 27 years old and has been
active in the media ﬁeld since the liberation of Deir al-Zor from the Syrian regime.
Alaa Saadoun
Younis Salama

Arrest, detention and abduction of Journalists
(1)Journalist Samer Jumaa Suleiman, known as Samer
al-Hourani, was abducted for forty days by an armed
group in Jarablus, north of Aleppo. He was kidnapped
on July 17, 2017 while he was in an area located
between the town of al-Ra'i and the town of Azaz in
Aleppo’s northern countryside. The kidnapper was
called Abu Khalid and was residing in Turkey. Security
forces in Jarablus were able to free Suleiman on
Thursday August 7, 2017.
Suleiman said in a statement to the Syrian Center for
journalistic Freedoms: "On July 17th, I went to Aleppo’s northern countryside with
the help of one of the smugglers who coordinated with an armed group north of
Aleppo to abduct me. They asked for $ 43,000 US dollars ransom for my release,
and confiscated the cash that I was carrying, my mobile phone and my passport."
Suleiman said: “On August 7, 2017, security forces in Jarablus were able to free
me from the hands of the kidnappers after clashes with small arms, while the
kidnappers fled. Search operations are still underway to find the kidnappers."
He has worked as a freelance journalist with several news channels since the
beginning of the Syrian revolution. He has written many field reports, especially in the
humanitarian field. Previously, he worked as scriptwriter for Maraya and Spot Light TV
series. He has written many articles in Syrian newspapers, including Tishreen and al-
Watan. Suleiman holds a BA in information from Damascus University which he got in
2009. He was born in 1985 in al-Karak al-Sharqi in rural Daraa.
(2)Media activist Ahmad Abdin was detained for four
days by security members of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham
(HTS) in the city of Ma'arat al-Nu'man in Idlib’s southern
countryside. He was arrested on Tuesday August 8,
2017 while returning home because of his media
activity in the province and his criticism of the actions
of HTS. Abdin was then released in the evening on
Saturday August 12, 2017.
Abedin, 23, is a military journalist who works at the media office of the Army of
Idlib. He worked as an independent media activist in Idlib nearly two years ago. He
was born in Ma'arat al-Nu'man.
Samer Suleiman
Ahmad Abdin

(3)The autonomous administration’s authorities of the
Democratic Union Party (PYD) in al-Hasakah continues to
detain the media activist Alan Salim Ahmad despite the
end of his sentence. He has finished his sentence since
August 15, 2017; however, PYD is keeping him in
detention under the pretext of refusing to declare
repentance and remorse for participating in a funeral of
a Peshmerga fighter who died in battle fighting ISIS.
PYD has set this as a precondition before the court for
Alan’s release, according to Rojava.
"The People's Protection Court of the PYD, which is one of autonomous
administration’s formations, told the journalist Alan Salim Ahmad, the reporter of
Yekiti Media website, that he was sentenced for one year," Zara Seda, a journalist,
told the Syrian journalistic Freedom Center. “Since Monday, August 14, 2017, Alan
has completed a full year in prison and has not yet been released. "
Alan is a member of the Yekiti Media which is affiliated with the Kurdish Yekiti Party
in Syria. He was born in al-Qamishli in 1994. He holds a certificate from the Institute
of Oil and was a first-year student in of the Faculty of Law at al-Furat University.
The Syrian Center for journalistic Freedoms documented the arrest of Allan by
Asayish in Qamishli city on August 16, 2016, along with his colleague Barzan
Sheikhmous during a campaign carried out by the Asayish forces against a number
of Kurdish politicians and journalists in the area. Sheikhmous was released on
November 23, 2016.
(4)The two media activists Bahaa al-Sweid and
Abdulhamid Mustafa were detained on
Wednesday August 16, 2017 for several hours
by members of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). The
activists were returning from covering the
clashes in Hama’s countryside accompanied by
members from Idlib Free Army on the road
linking al-Latamneh and Kafr Zeita.
Bahaa is the director of Hama Media Office
which is affiliated with Idlib Free Army. He is 25
years old. Abdulhamid works with him at the
same office, and he is 35 years old. They both
have been active in the media field since 2012.
They have documented the violations of the
Syrian regime and the Russians against civilians,
as well as many field events and battles in Idlib
and Hama.
Alan Ahmad
Bahaa al-Sweid
Abdulhamid Mustafa

(5)On Sunday August 20, 2017, media activist
Ali Khaled al-Marai was arrested for 10 dayes by
Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on his way from his
hometown of Hazarin in Idlib’s southern
countryside to his workplace in Drakush city in
the province’s western countryside. His arrest
came following threats by HTS to him after his
media coverage of the demonstrations that took
place in his hometown during the fighting with Ahrar al-Sham last July, according
to Sham News Network.
Al-Marai works as an independent media activist in addition to his work with Syria
Relief. He has also been active in the media since the break out of the Syrian
revolution in 2011, documenting the violations of the Syrian regime against
civilians. He was born in 1992 in Hazarin.
(6)Media activist Munib Abu Taim was
arrested by the opposition fighting faction of
Jaish al-Islam on Tuesday August 22, 2017
after raiding his home in Douma city in
Damascus’ eastern countryside. Munib’s media
equipment was confiscated as well.
The director of the Damascus Media Center,
Alaa al-Ahmad, told the Syrian Center for
journalistic Freedoms that a group of
members from Jaish al-Islam raided the house of Abu Taim in Douma on Tuesday
afternoon. They arrested him and confiscated his media equipment (a laptop and a
camera).
Al-Ahmad added that his center and several media outlets called on Jaish al-Islam
to immediately release Abu Taim. Jaish al-Islam, however, did not respond to their
demands nor did it state the reasons for Abu Taim’s arrest until now.
The 19-year-old Abu Taim has been working as a correspondent for Damascus
Media Center for almost six months. He is a member of the Association of Media
Workers in Eastern Ghouta. He is the producer of a short film entitled "On the soil
of Damascus", which shows the checkpoints which are scattered in Damascus. He
also filmed several reports about al-Tal city in Damascus’ countryside.
Ali al-Marai
Munib Abu Taim

Two months jail time for journalists
The Court of First Instance of the Second
Criminal Court of the Supreme Judiciary Council
in Douma city in Damascus’ eastern countryside
handed down on July 11, 2017, a two-month
prison sentence in absentia against the Syrian
journalist Laila al-Safadi and the Syrian writer
Shawkat Gharzeddin. The two were sentenced
to serve jail time on the case of “Tl’ena Al
Horria” magazine which was raised before the
court after an article entitled “Ya Baba Shelni” –
in English: O dad, pick me up- in the magazine’s
February 21st issue.
The magazine published on Thursday August 10, 2017 on its ofﬁcial website the
details of the court's decision, which provided for the acquittal of the assistant
editor-in-chief, Osama Nassar, who currently resides in Douma. However, the
magazine’s editor-in-chief, Laila al-Safadi, was convicted and the author of the
article, Shawkat Gharzeddin, was considered, by the plaintiff, as offending the
divine Entity. The magazine itself was convicted as a legal entity.
The court sentenced both the journalist Laila al-Safadi and the author Shawkat
Gharzeddin, in absentia, to two months in jail. The ruling also provided for
prohibiting the publication of the magazine in the liberated areas in Syria.
Assaults on Journalists
(1)Members from Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement assaulted the media activist
Abdulrahman Abu Abdullah on Sunday August 13, 2017 in Jeiroud city in eastern
Qalamoun, Damascus’ countryside because of his criticism of the movement’s
members regarding the preservation of security in the area.
In a statement to the Syrian Center for journalistic Freedoms, Abdurrahman said: "I
was beaten by one of the leaders of Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement, Abu Adam,
in Jeiroud city, after he lured me into his car and threatened me if I criticized them
again, he would hurt me— he said to me: ‘If you write anything new, I will beat you
and make you bleed. You and others like you are nobody to me.’”
Laila al-Safadi

The pro-revolution Facebook page Syrian Revolution Coordination Committee in
Jeiroud published that a media activist in the city was assaulted, saying that “One
of the prominent military opposition leaders in eastern Qalamoon beat a young
man in Jeroud city because of a Facebook post by the young man in which he
expressed his opinion of the failure of the security forces.” The leader threatened
media activist that if he returns to posting criticism, he would be beaten until
being bloodied, according to the FB page.
Abdlurahman has been a media activist for three years. He was born in 1995 and
works as a media activist for the medical body of Jeiroud. He is also freelancing for
Step and Smart news agencies.
(2)The correspondent of Welat FM radio
station Jendar Abdulqader was assaulted
on Friday August 25, 2017, by members of
Asayish forces during his media coverage of
a protest rally in Guweiran neighborhood in
Hasaka, northeast of Syria.
Jendar said in a statement to the Syrian
Center for journalistic Freedoms: "As I was
preparing to cover the explosion that took
place during the protest, my camera and my phone were confiscated by one of the
Asayish members. The same member, along with another two, beat me at the
Asayish headquarters when I demanded the return of my work equipment.” He
pointed out that some of the area’s prominent figures, who went to the Asayish
headquarters, helped him retake his media equipment. He confirmed that he was
beaten by the same Asayish member in Al-Hikma Hospital in Hasaka on July 15.
Jendar is a correspondent for Welat FM. He started his media activity in 2015 by
working with several local networks, including Kurd Street, Press 23, Smart and
Dooz News. He holds a BA in Sociology from Aleppo University, which he got in
2009. He was born in 1985 in Hasaka.
It is worth mentioning that Welat FM is licensed by the Supreme Media Council of
the autonomous administration, and Jendar had a work task assigned to him by
the council itself.
Jendar Abdulqader

Media professional dismissed from his work
On August 3, 2017, Orient News channel dismissed
its correspondent in Homs’ northern countryside,
Saifullah al-Ahmad Taha, without explaining the
reasons. Before being dismissed, he was suspended
from work for 75 days.
In a statement to the Syrian Center for journalistic
Freedoms, Saifullah said: "I was suspended from
work on May 20, 2017 after I broadcast live from
Homs about the latest developments and the
displacement of the last batch of al-Waer
neighborhood’s population, under the pretext of
providing information that is contradictory to the
channel’s news. On August 3, 2017, I was dismissed
without being told the reason."
For his part, journalist Ahmed Kamel, Orient News’
editor-in-chief, claimed that Saifullah al-Ahmad was
not a permanent employee in the channel, and that
there was no contract between Orient News and
Saifullah, adding that the latter’s work was limited
to freelancing. Kamel also said that the area where
Saifullah worked has fallen to the hands of the
Syrian regime.
However, Saifullah confirmed that on January 1, 2016, he signed an official
contract with the channel, and that the area in which he works in Homs’ northern
countryside has not yet fallen to the hands of the Syrian regime. He also pointed
out that he was kidnapped three times and faced assault and verbal abuse, in
addition to stealing his equipment, because of his media work. Despite that, he
was not compensated by Orient News.
Saifullah began his media activities since the break out of the Syrian revolution in
2011. He served as the director of the media office of the Civilians Protection
Body in Homs and a correspondent for Shada al-Hurriya channel, and recently was
a correspondent for Orient News channel in Homs. He was born on April 7, 1993.
Journalist prevented from media coverage
Lebanese security forces, gendarmerie, prevented journalist Mohamad Hassan on
Thursday August 10, 2017 from covering a sit-in by a Syrian refugee in Lebanon
in front of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)’s office in
Beirut.
Saifullah Taha

Mohamad said in a statement to the Syrian Center for
jornalistic Freedoms: "A member of the Internal
Security Forces present in front of the UNHCR
headquarters prevented me from covering the event
and convey the suffering of Abu Hossam, whose
living and health conditions are deteriorating.
"I was threatened with arrest because I did not have
a work or photography permit even though I had an
ID card of Front Line Defenders, an NGO that protects
human rights defenders," Mohamad said, adding that
the security member claimed that the area is a
military area, despite the fact that it was an inhabited
area where civilians lived.
Mohamad, 25, is a correspondent for Radio Rozana in Lebanon and works as a
freelance journalist with several websites and press agencies. He is also active in
the field of human rights advocacy and has been living in Lebanon for about 4
years. He covers and documents the violations against Syrian refugees.
This is not the first time in which the journalist Mohamed Hassan was prevented
from practicing his journalistic work. In its report of April 2017, the Syrian Center
for journalistic Freedoms documented that members of the Lebanese security
forces prevented the journalist Mohamed Hassan on March 30, 2017, from
covering a protest held by Syrian refugees in front of the Office of UNHCR in
Beirut.
Syrian regime takes over house of
Syrian Journalists Association member
On Monday July 31, 2017, the Syrian
regime’s security forces stormed the
house of the Syrian writer and
journalist and the member of the
Syrian Journalists Association Fayez
Sara. The house is in al-Ghezlanieh
town on the road to Damascus
International Airport. The regime’s
security forces asked the family
residing at the house to leave within
24 hours.
According to Madar Al-Youm website, whose editor-in-chief is Sara, the regime
forces warned the residents of the house against taking any of house’s furniture,
Mohamad Hassan
Fayez Sara

including personal belongings, so that they would take over everything in the
house. The residents were not able to determine the security apparatus to which
the intruders belonged.
The website also confirmed that the regime’s security forces also raided a four-
story building belonging to the sons of Sara in al-Tadamon neighborhood in
Damascus. They forced the residents out and took over all the house’s contents.
Sara, who spent many years in the prisons of Hafiz Assad (father of Bashar Assad)
and then in the prison of Bashar, left Syria in early 2013. Soon after that, he lost
his youngest son, Wissam, who died under torture in the regime’s prisons. The
regime’s security forces also took over Sara’s office which is located in al-Zahira
neighborhood in Damascus.
Violations against media centers and institutions
The Court of First Instance of the Second Criminal Court
of the Supreme Judiciary Council in Douma city in
Damascus’ eastern countryside handed down, on July
11, 2017, its ruling on the case of “Tl’ena Al Horria”
magazine. The ruling provided for prohibiting the
publication of the magazine in the liberated areas in
Syria, after the magazine published an article entitled
“Ya Baba Shelni” – in English: O dad, pick me up- in its
February 21st issue.
The magazine published on Thursday August 10, 2017
on its official website the details of the court's decision, which provided for the
acquittal of the assistant editor-in-chief, Osama Nassar, who currently resides in
Douma. However, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Laila al-Safadi, was convicted and
the author of the article, Shawkat Gharzeddin, considered, by the plaintiff, as
offending the divine Entity. The magazine itself was convicted as a legal entity.
documented in its report of March 2017, the decision of the Public Prosecutor's
Office in the city of Douma (the Supreme Judicial Council in eastern Ghouta), which
provides for closing all the offices of Tle’na Al Horria magazine, in addition to
closing other offices of other civil institutions including Hurrass -or Guardians-
network and other affiliated institutions because of publishing “Ya Baba Shelni”
article. In its April report, the Syrian Center for journalistic Freedoms, documented
the shelling of Tle’na Al Horria magazine’s office in Douma city in rural Damascus
on Friday April 7, 2017 by the Syrian regime’s warplanes, which led to material
damage.

grip tightens on media freedom
The Syrian Center for journalistic Freedoms observed that some media outlets
faced different pressures by financing entities in August. The pressures aimed to
change the editorial policies of the outlets or stop their media activity.
Dar al-Eman satellite channel has stopped broadcasting on NileSat. In statement
published on its official website on August 14, 2017, the channel confirmed that
the reason behind stopping its broadcast was that it faced “a deliberate blockade
and an intentional harassment. They [the blockaders] think that their pressure
would impel us to change the editorial policy and the noble message of the
channel.”
The pressure campaign on the channel is not new. It has started since February
2017. Despite the fact that the channel supported the Syrian revolution and was
not biased towards neither the Syrian opposition parties nor any of the Gulf crisis
states. It was also against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Assad
regime.
Separately, the editorial board of the Germany-based newspaper “Abwab” -Arabic
for doors- issued a statement in August, stating that "On August 7, 2017, the
publisher Federica Gaida, illegally and immorally, blocked the editor-in-chief Rami
al-Aasheq’s access to the newspaper’s site and social media accounts. She also
ended cooperation with him in an ‘arbitrary manner’ because he refused to support
racist ideas, especially hate speech against Arabs, Muslims and refugees.”
The publisher's decision came after she welcomed an idea proposed by a German
citizen, asking the newspaper to translate all the headlines into German because
she had a "bad feeling" about the content of the newspaper.
This is what al-Asheq did not accept. In a letter sent to the publisher Gaida, he
pointed out that "the purpose is not only translation. We, as Arabs, must prove
that we are not terrorists, and we cannot accept a request based on a prior

accusation of terrorism. The newspaper proved its quality in twenty monthly
printed issues and on its website."
In the statement, the editorial board declared its rejection of the arbitrary
behavior of the publisher against the editor-in-chief and its full boycott of
everything associated with New German Media publishing house. It is also
declared that it is not responsible for anything issued by Abwab newspaper after
August 7, 2017, confirming its rejection of the right-wing discriminatory speech
by the publisher and action taken against the editorial board.
Suspect in killing Syrian journalists in 2015
arrested in Turkey
Turkish judiciary ordered the arrest of
one of the suspects in killing the
Syrian journalists Ibrahim Abdulqadir
and Fares Hammadi at the end of
October 2015 in the southern
province of Sanli Urfa.
Turkish security sources said on
Monday August 14, 2017 that Turkish
police had arrested Moaz al-Hussein
after being spotted by examining the
tapes of surveillance cameras when he entered Turkey illegally three days earlier.
The two journalists moved to Turkey two years ago fleeing the city of Raqqa
because of the fighting there. They settled in Sanli Urfa and issued an Arabic-
speaking, anti-ISI and anti-Syrian regime weekly called Ain al-Watan.
On October 29, 2015, the two journalists were beheaded by unidentified gunmen
in Haliliye district in Sanli Urfa. After analyzing the surveillance cameras’ footage
in the city center and the border area, Turkish police found that Hussein was one
of those involved in killing the journalists, and that he fled to Syria after the
incident.
The court ordered the arrest of Hussein on charges of murder. The police are still
looking for the others involved in the case, according to Adanolu Agency’s official
website.
Fares HammadiIbrahim Abdulqadir

Syrian Journalists Association holds dialogue session in Paris
T h e S y r i a n J o u r n a l i s t s
Association has recently
organized a dialogue session
entitled "Five Years for the
Guardians of Democracy" in the
French capital, Paris. Members
of the administrative body and
sub-committees, in addition to
a number of France and
Germany-based members and
representatives of international organizations concerned with media and trade
union affairs were present.
Over the course of two days, 29-30 August 2017, the administrative body of the
association and its subcommittees discussed the general strategies at several
sessions.
The dialogue tackled ways to
reach out to international
organizations and European
trade unions to help make the
association a professional trade
union, capable of providing
support and protection to
journalists. An important part
of the general discussion was
on the work of the Syrian
Center for journalistic Freedoms
and the ways to develop the center’s work mechanisms in the coming years.
The Syrian Journalists Association was founded on February 20, 2012 and was
later registered in France. Its rules of procedure stipulate that "protecting
journalists and defending their rights and freedoms and providing support and
care to them in order to improve their professional level is one of the goals and
objectives of the Association."

International Day of the Victims of the Enforced Disappearances
The Syrian Center for journalistic Freedoms of the Syrian Journalists Association issued a
statement on the International Day of the Victims of the Enforced Disappearances
confirming that at least 32 journalists in Syria are still in detention or their fate is
unknown.
The statement called calls on all nations and all human rights organizations to put
pressure on the active actors in the Syrian arena to release the detained
journalists and reveal the fate of the forcibly disappeared persons. It also called on
them to view the case of the forcibly disappeared and the arbitrarily detained
persons in Syria as a humanitarian crisis of high priority.
The statement called on the United Nations Security Council to carry out its duties
in dealing with this crisis, stressing that failing to deal firmly with such type of
crimes, and allowing the perpetrators to act with impunity, would make the
victims, their families, and their sympathizers lose their faith in the international
community, justice, and the values of human rights.
On this matter, the director of the Syrian Center for journalistic Freedoms, Justice
Ibrahim Hussein, said: "The different conflicting parties in Syria, especially the
Syrian regime, are using enforced disappearance as a method of instilling terror
within society. The feeling generated by such crimes is not limited to relatives of
the disappeared, but also plagues the whole society.”
"The war in Syria has left thousands of violations against civilians, such as murder,
injury and detention, of which journalists had their considerable share," he said.
"The different parties to the conflict deliberately targeted them for their effective
role in exposing the perpetrators of these violations and in conveying events on
the Syrian arena to the public opinion and the international community,” he added.
"No person should be subjected to enforced disappearance, nor should any
exceptional circumstance, whether the country is at war or internal political
instability, be used to justify enforced disappearance," Hussein explains. "Forced
disappearance or any form of deprivation of freedom, followed by the refusal to
admit the deprivation of freedom or the concealment of one's fate or place,
committed by various parties in Syria, are crimes against humanity because they
threaten the basic concepts of human rights guaranteed by the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the International Convention for the Protection
of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance of 1992 and the related UN
resolutions.

Al-Hussein pointed out that the center documented 220 cases of arrest,
kidnapping and detention of media professionals in Syria, including 32 journalists
in detention or enforced disappearance, whose fate remains unknown.
Conclusion: Recommendations from the Syrian center for
Journalistic Freedoms
During wars, journalists and media Workers are treated as civilians and therefore
all parties involved in the conflict must ensure their safety.  
According to the article 79 of the Additional Protocol to the 1949 Geneva
Convention for the Protection of Civilian Persons in Armed Conflict states that
civilian journalists performing their duties in areas of armed conflict must be
respected and treated as civilians and protected from any form of deliberate
attack, unless they do not act contrary to their status as civilians According to
lawyer Ghazwan Quronfol, head of the Free Lawyers League
The UN Security Council Resolution 1738 of 2006 included the following: 
- Condemning deliberate attacks against journalists, media professionals and any
associated personnel during armed conflicts. 
- Equating the safety and security of journalists, media and aid workers in areas of
armed conflict for protection of civilians there. 
- Considering journalists and independent reporters as civilians to be respected and
treated 
- Considering media installations and equipment as civilian objects that may not be the
target of any attacks or reprisals.
Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (articles 7 and 8).crimes
against civilians and objects, including media headquarters, are considered war crimes
and crimes against humanity. 
Therefore, the actions of the various parties committing violations against journalists
and media professionals in Syria from killing, enforced disappearance, assault on media
institutions and other violations amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity .
Moreover, lawyer Ghazwan Quronfol, head of the Free Lawyers League, said: “It
cannot be said that the de-facto courts or the so-called Supreme Judicial Council,
the Sharia Law Bodies, formed in the areas outside Assad regime’s control, or even
“People’s Courts” in the autonomous governance areas, are considered judicial

courts in the right sense. These courts lack the essential ingredients which should
be found in a judicial facility. More, the formation of these courts is against the
local and international legal standards, let alone that they are affiliated with
certain military entities and their decisions are not independent. These decisions
are considered invalid on different aspects. Consequently, the decisions issued by
these courts, including the that of detaining Alan Ahmad or the ruling against the
staff of ‘Tle’na Al Horriya’ magazine, are clearly considered a flagrant violation of
”.the simplest human rights
Confiscation of people’s personal properties by the Syrian regime’s security“
forces, including the properties of Fayez Sara, the member of the Syrian
Journalists Association, is also considered a flagrant violation of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted by the United Nations General
Assembly on December 10, 1948. Article 17 of the declaration provided that
‘Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with
others,’ and that ‘No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property,’” Quronfol
concluded.The center also recommends that all parties to the conflict respect the
text of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states:
“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression. This right includes
the freedom to hold opinions without interference, to receive and impart
information and ideas using any medium and without limits and geographical
”.limitations

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