The final report of the Free Media Union on violations of journalists’ rights in Syria for the year 2022

Violations of journalists’ rights continue in Syria… Journalists are caught between the nightmares of reality that threaten their lives and the terrifying nightmares of sleep

The Free Media Union issued its annual report for the year 2022, which talks about the violations that
occurred and documented against media professionals in Syria. The violations were distributed in
three areas within Syria according to the controlling party. Syria is currently under the control of three
parties. The first is areas belonging to the Syrian government, and the second is areas belonging to
Turkey. And the armed groups affiliated to it, and the third is the areas of the Autonomous
Administration of North and East Syria.
Journalists in some areas live disturbing nightmares that haunt them while they are awake at work
and while they sleep, due to the pressures, violations and threats they suffer at times, especially since
these concerns are often turning into realities from several sides, including internal and external.

 

Dead and wounded journalists

During its work for this year 2022, the Free Media Union documented the killing of six journalists in
separate parts of Syria, the last of which was the targeting of the Syrian journalist Issam Abdullah
(Hawar Agency correspondent and member of the Media Union).
The reporter “Abdullah” was targeted on the twentieth of November, during his professional work and
his coverage of the bombing that Turkey was launching with warplanes on the village of Takbakl in the
city of Derik / Al-Malikiyah / in northern Syria, and the targeting resulted in the loss of his life along with
a few civilians who rushed to the bombing site to rescue the wounded trapped under the rubble.
Less than an hour before he was targeted, there is a television intervention by the journalist, Issam
Abdullah, in which he talks about the seriousness of the situation, as he says: “Turkish drones and
warplanes are flying heavily and pose a real danger to everyone who moves,” knowing that the targeting
of colleague Issam Abdullah was the result of repeated bombing. On the same site in the village of Takl
Bakl.
The photographer of the Self-Defense Media Office, Ahmad al-Nasser, lost his life while covering the
ongoing clashes between the Syrian Democratic Forces and members of the “ISIS” organization in the
vicinity of al-Sina’a prison in the Ghweran neighborhood of al-Hasakah city.
Syria also witnessed the killing of journalist Atef Al-Saeedi in mid-November, while he was covering the
clashes between the Syrian government forces and members of the Islamic State “ISIS” in the city of
Daraa, southern Syria.
Media activist Ahmed Odeh Al-Maabar died during the year 2022, in Sednaya prisons, after being
arrested by the Syrian government forces 4 years ago. Al-Maabar hails from the countryside of the
Syrian governorate of Daraa.
On October 7, an armed group affiliated with the Turkish-backed opposition in the city of Al-Bab, east of
Aleppo, assassinated media activist Muhammad Abdul Latif, known as Abu Ghanoum, and his pregnant
wife, after shooting them with silencers.
Unidentified shooters targeted the media activist, Mahmoud Bakour, in the city of Talbiseh, in the Homs
governorate, and the targeting resulted in his death on the tenth of March.
Some journalists were also subjected to direct targeting, but they did not lose their lives as a result of
the targeting, and they were only exposed to wounds and injuries from which they were able to recover
after treatment.
Among those injured was the Syrian journalist Muhammad al-Jarada (correspondent of the Sterk
satellite channel), who was targeted by a Turkish raid on the twentieth of November, while he was
working in the city of Kobani, and the targeting resulted in his significant injury.
Journalist Basil Rashid, correspondent for Hawar News Agency, was wounded with two bullets, one in
the chest and the other in the abdomen, when he was targeted by ISIS militants on January 21, 2022.
The Director of the Media Center of the Syriac Military Council, Fayez Al-Amleh, was injured in the hand
after he was targeted by ISIS elements during the events of Al-Sinaa prison in Ghweran, when the
organization’s elements tried to escape from prison on January 21, 2022.
Many media crews were also targeted by ISIS members while covering the events of Al-Sinaa prison,
including Al-Arabiya channel, Sky News, Al-Ghad channel, Al-Aan channel, and some local media
institutions, and they were protected and transferred to safe areas by the concerned authorities.
With these documents, there are three journalists who died in the areas of the Syrian government, and
another died in the areas of Turkish control and its affiliated groups, and two in the areas of the
Autonomous Administration. It was self-inflicted, but by targeting a Turkish citizen, which was
condemned by many international and human rights organizations.

 

More than 20 detained journalists

Journalists in Syria have not been spared the same situation as the civilian population from arrests and
dark prisons… only because they speak the word of truth, expose corruption, and report the crimes of
the aggressors and the horror of their war on civilians and Syria.
The number of journalists and media activists arrested this year has reached at least 20 journalists, at
the hands of the controlling authorities in all Syrian regions, and thus Syria ranks sixth in the world and
first in the Arab world in terms of the number of detained journalists, according to statistics issued by a
number of Human rights organizations this year, including Reporters Without Borders, which reported
the arrest of 27 journalists in Syria.
In turn, we could not accurately document the places of arrests due to the difficulty and danger of
accessing information in those prisons, especially in the areas controlled by Turkey and its affiliated
armed groups, as they are armed groups and do not have official prisons, where the detainees are taken
to unknown destinations. As for the areas of the Autonomous Administration, some cases of arrest have
been witnessed Which did not exceed days, and according to our follow-up, the majority of them were
for reasons not related to their media work, except for one case of North Press Agency correspondent
Ammar Abdel Latif.
Where a security force arrested the journalist Ammar Abdul Latif, who works as a correspondent for
North Press Agency in the city of Raqqa, which is under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces
“SDF”. Arrest is working with unlicensed external means in the Autonomous Administration areas, and
he is still under arrest.
Some cases of arrest were made of employees in the media offices of some Autonomous Administration
institutions, according to what was reported in some agencies and social networking sites.
We, in our role in the Free Media Union, and despite the fact that we do not have restrictions on those
who were arrested and were said to be media professionals, we followed up the matter and after
communicating with the concerned authorities, it became clear that the reasons for the arrest are
security, and they are not media professionals, but rather they are ordinary employees in the
Autonomous Administration institutions, and among these people is called Abdul Al-Karim Al-Rahil, a
former employee in the media office of the Raqqa Civil Council, and Khaled Hassan, a worker in the
Education Committee, are both ordinary employees and are not affiliated with the press and media
field.
As for the arrest of the so-called Ruba Al Olaya, we are aware that she practiced the profession at Hawar
Agency and was suspended from working in the agency, according to sources from the agency, and after
her arrest, she did not practice journalistic work in any other media outlet, and she was unable to obtain
any assignment to practice the profession, and thus she is outside the scope of the media. We cannot
intervene for her to solve her problem.

 

Violations of another kind against journalists in the areas of the Autonomous
Administration

Some journalists in the areas of the Autonomous Administration were subjected to some cases of
assault, and a number of cases of violations were recorded, such as verbal altercations, pushing some
journalists during their work, and preventing them from standing in some places by the security forces
of the Autonomous Administration, and after complaints were submitted by these journalists, the
solution was resolved All problems by presenting apologies by reviewing the centers of the Internal
Security Forces that were responsible for these abuses, and redressing the journalist and satisfying him
in the legal manner and according to his eligibility.

 

distribution of violations

Violations were distributed, as you noticed, over all of the Syrian geography, but in varying proportions.
The areas of the Syrian government were the most killing and arresting journalists, with a rate of up to
40%. The matter is not much different in the areas of Turkish control and its affiliated groups, where the
percentage of violations reaches 38%, with the absence of the role of women in the media. And their
complete refusal to allow her to enter this field of work, which is a flagrant and clear violation of the
right of women journalists in that region, and the Autonomous Administration areas come last with the
number of arrests at a rate of 8%, and the violations were limited to cases of arrest without any case of
killing a journalist at the hands of its security forces.
And 12% of the violations came at the hands of unidentified groups, including kidnapping and killing of
journalists, without knowing the perpetrators, and all of them are in the areas of the Damascus
government and the armed groups affiliated with Turkey.

 

Absence of professional media

The report referred to the absence of independent media in Syria, but there is a trend and media
freedom in some areas, and restriction and silence of voices in other regions. It was noted the large
number of media institutions in northeastern Syria, and the entry of international television agencies
and channels with their correspondents to that region with freedom in journalistic work, and the
evidence for this is the presence More than 125 media institutions operating in the region with licenses
from the concerned authorities, including local, regional and international ones, with more than 1,700
journalists and workers working within them, and this is evidence that this region is witnessing openness
and media development.
We note the opposite in the regions of the Syrian government and the areas of Turkish control, which
witness the absence of foreign media outlets or offices for correspondents within their regions. The
security apparatus is the Syrian government media, which has been harnessed to promote the interest
of the government, and it is the one who led the state in the previous stage until it reached its current
state of deterioration in all human rights, legal, political, and economic fields, which are very
deteriorating.
He added that the Syrian government has legislated laws that contravene the most basic principles of
human rights and aim to suppress freedom of opinion and expression and presented examples of those
laws.

A new law restricts the media in the areas of the Syrian government

In November, the Syrian government issued the new media law, claiming that it “will respond to the
requirements of the times, and will be in line with the requirements of the current situation.”
The new government law includes strict laws that will be imposed on journalists, including “the
inadmissibility of touching the symbols of the state,” such as the president, the army, and the security
services, or “inciting materials,” or prohibiting the production, publication, or broadcast of any content
that “offends monotheistic religions and religious beliefs.” Prejudice to national unity, provoking
sectarian or sectarian strife, incitement to commit crimes, acts of violence and terrorism, or incitement
to hatred and racism.
Loyal journalists objected to the closed way the law was discussed, and to the tripartite committee
charged with drafting it, which was formed to study the proposals of the first committee, consisting of
the Minister of Information, the Minister of Tourism, and the Minister of Communications, and rejected
the law itself.

 

Report conclusions

The report concluded, based on what it recorded during the year 2022, that there are parties to the
powers that control some areas, which have violated many rules of international human rights law in
the areas they control, freedom of opinion and expression, such as Article 19 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, and Article (19 -2) From the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights.
It also violated many rules and laws of international and humanitarian law, foremost of which is Rule 34
of customary law, which requires the respect and protection of journalists in conflict zones as long as
they do not undertake direct efforts in hostilities.
Recommendations
At the end of the report, the Free Media Union presented a set of recommendations that would help
journalists to advance the media, convey the reality as it is, and try to rid them of the obstacles and
difficulties they face, and among these recommendations:
All parties to the conflict in Syria must immediately release journalists, media workers, and arbitrarily
detained persons.
– Revealing the fate of the forcibly disappeared, including journalist Farhad Hamo, who was kidnapped
on December 15, 2014, on the Qamishlo-Tel Koçer road by ISIS, allowing entry to all media outlets and
stopping controlling the work of journalists according to the extent of their loyalty to the controlling
party.
Repeal all “security laws” that suppress freedom of opinion and expression throughout the Syrian
geography.
Not harnessing the media to serve the dominant powers, justify their violations, and falsify the truth.
The application of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “everyone
has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and this right includes the freedom to hold opinions
without any interference, and to seek, receive and impart news and ideas through any means,
regardless of borders and geography.”
Since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis in 2011, the number of journalists who lost their lives in Syria has
reached about 758, because of the conflict on the ground in Syria since the outbreak of the crisis until
today, and the number of detainees has reached dozens, not to mention the missing and kidnapped.

 

31-1-2023