Syria

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Syria

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Presenters on a programme for Syrian Educational TV, in Damascus, Syria, 23 April 2020, Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua via Getty

Syria: Eight arrested for critical online posts

As part of an ongoing campaign to “combat the spread of false news and rumours” on social media, authorities arrest eight people for their Facebook posts, including prominent Damascus-based TV presenter Hala Al-Jarf.

Syria: Thousands of prisoners at risk of infection from the COVID-19 outbreak

A lack of government transparency and access to health records, as well as overcrowded, unsanitary detention centers are putting thousands of Syrian prisoners at risk of infection from the COVID-19 virus. Rights groups call for the release of detainees, including political prisoners and human rights defenders whose numbers remain largely unknown.

Syria: Women journalists facing smear campaigns and sexist attacks

Women reporting from Syria’s Idlib region are faced with online smear campaigns and threats of violence in an increasingly polarized media landscape.

The Disappeared: Where are Syria’s forcibly disappeared activists?

Rights groups issue a joint statement on the missing, detained and forcibly disappeared human rights defenders in Syria, calling for their release, and an end to the culture of impunity for perpetrators of crimes against humanity.

Syrian photojournalist Amjad Hassan Bakir killed in suspected regime missile strike

Bakir was embedded with the Free Idlib Army whose fighters were in a truck that was hit by a plane-fired missile.

Syria: Detention, harassment in retaken areas

Active combat has ended in much of Syria, but nothing has changed in the way intelligence branches trample rights of perceived opponents of Assad’s rule.

‘Envision a new war’: The Syrian Archive, corporate censorship and the struggle to preserve public history online

Social media companies are censoring images of war. The Syrian Archive is working to preserve them.

Women walk through a street in Homs, Syria, 31 October 2017, Sally Hayden/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Well-known Syrian citizen-journalist probably died in detention in 2013

Ali Mahmoud Othman’s family was recently told he died in detention and is seeking official confirmation of his death and the return of his body.

Hundreds of people gather in Utrecht, Netherlands, on 15 March 2018, to call for peace and demand an end to the ongoing violence in Syria, Romy Arroyo Fernandez/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Germany arrests two Syrians for alleged crimes against humanity

Anwar R. (56) and Eyad A. (42) are being charged with torturing detainees while they were Syrian intelligence officers in 2011 and 2012.

Syrian Kurdish and Arab young women who have joined the YPG live in a training compound, in Hasaka, Syria, 30 May 2018, Sebastian Backhaus/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Five years have passed since Syrian citizen-journalist Amir Hamed was abducted

Amir Hamed was abducted by gunmen from his home in Derbasiyah, North-Eastern Syria, on 11 January 2014. His whereabouts are still a mystery.

Maha Assabalani, a representative of the Violation Documentation Center, accepts an award on Razan Zeitouneh's behalf, during the 'Francoise Giroud' Award Ceremony in Paris, France, 30 January 2014, Kristy Sparow/Getty Images

Five years on, we remember Razan, Samira, Nazem and Wa’el

On 9 December, people around the world remembered Razan Zaitouneh, Samira Khalil, Nazem Hamadi and Wa’el Hamada, kidnapped in Douma, Syria on this day five years ago.

Journalists and Syrian army soldiers take part in a government guided tour in Damascus' southern al-Qadam neighbourhood, 29 April 2018, LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images

Damascus journalist has a million stories but none she can safely report

As a Syrian freelance journalist living in Damascus, Joudy Boulos’ ability to report is severely limited by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

US forces and members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) patrol the Kurdish-held town of Al-Darbasiyah in northeastern Syria bordering Turkey, 4 November 2018, DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP/Getty Images

Two reporters injured by Turkish gunfire near Turkey-Syria border

Gulistan Mohammad and Ibrahim al-Ahmed were shot while covering the effects of Turkey’s shelling of the northern Syrian city of Tell Abbyad.

A Syrian man and his family who have found refuge in Bloomfield Township, MI, speak to their daughter in Turkey using WhatsApp video chat, 29 January 2017, Fabrizio Costantini for the "Washington Post"

Will Syria follow in the UAE’s footsteps and censor VoIP services?

The Syrian Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) announced that it may soon begin blocking voice and video calls on WhatsApp and other Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services.

Inside view of a building housing the local council of the Kafr Nabl district after an air strike, in Idlib, Syria, 19 September 2017, Ahmed Al Hashom/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Syrian human rights lawyer Yasser Al-Saleem arrested in Idlib

An armed group stormed Al-Saleem’s home and arrested him along with activist Abdelhamid Al-Bayoush, who was visiting him.

Members of the press are seen in Turkey's Suruc district, near the Turkish-Syrian border as clashes continue in Kobane, northern Syria, 12 November 2014, Ercin Top/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Syrian military intelligence arrests Syrian Kurdish journalist at checkpoint

Syrian military intelligence forces stopped and arrested Kalo at a checkpoint between the northern Syrian cities of Mambij and Aleppo on August 25.