Syria

Naji Jerf was gunned down in broad daylight in Gaziantep, where he had worked for the past three years. The founder and editor of the opposition magazine Henta, he had made several films about atrocities by both Islamic State and the Syrian government.

Ahmed Mohamed al-Mousa, a member of the citizen journalist group “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently”, was killed by a group of masked men in Idlib, Syria. CPJ recently honoured the group with its 2015 International Press Freedom Award.

This is part four of a four-part series on the men and women illuminating some of Syria’s darkest regions, often at grave personal risk.

In this four-part series on the men and women illuminating Syria’s darkest regions, IFEX speaks to individuals working with four independent Syrian collectives operating anonymously inside the war-torn country to find out what motivates them to keep going despite the grave and often, fatal, risks involved.

This is part three of a four-part series on the men and women illuminating some of Syria’s darkest regions, often at grave personal risk.

This is part two of a four-part series on the men and women illuminating some of Syria’s darkest regions, often at grave personal risk.

This is the first instalment in a four-part series on the men and women illuminating some of Syria’s darkest regions, often at grave personal risk.

Bassel Khartabil, a defender of freedom expression being held in conditions amounting to enforced disappearance may be facing a death sentence. International rights organisations have joined forces to call for his immediate release.

Syria’s authorities have yet to disclose the whereabouts of Bassel Khartabil, a software developer and defender of freedom of information, one month after his transfer to an undisclosed location, 22 organisations said on 4 November 2015. Syrian authorities should immediately reveal his whereabouts and release him.

Rumours of Akran Raslan’s death have been circulating online in recent days and now the sources consulted by Reporters Without Borders say it has been confirmed that he died in detention in 2013, less than a year after his arrest in October 2012, and that his death was almost certainly the result of having been tortured by the Syrian security services.

Turkish photojournalists share their opinions with Bianet about whether the photo of a drowned Syrian refugee child should be published by media outlets, or not.

The court ruled that a 2014 amnesty applies to Mazen Darwish’s case and that of his colleagues. The decision will become final in 30 days.

It is hard to imagine amid the pain and sadness that anything positive could come of such brutal murders. But in the past year, there has been heightened awareness both in the media sector and in governments’ handling of hostage situations.

Three years ago on 18 August 2015, citizen journalist and film-maker Osama al-Habali was arrested as he sought to cross the border from Lebanon into his native Syria. He has not been heard from since his disappearance.

In two separate decisions, authorities in Bahrain and the Kurdish-run territory of Syria suspended the operations of three news outlets that fill a critical journalistic space in their respective areas.

Renowned Syrian journalist Mazen Darwish was freed on 10 August 2015 after spending nearly three-and-a-half years behind bars in his home country on spurious terrorism charges.