Two citizen journalists have been killed during shelling of different neighbourhoods, and one journalist working for a government daily newspaper was killed on his way to work.
(RSF/IFEX) – 4 December 2012 – Syria’s state-owned national television reports that Naji Assaad, a retired journalist who continued to work for the government daily Tishreen, was killed today outside his home in the south Damascus suburb of Tadamun as he was leaving to go to the newspaper.
The TV station described his death as a “terrorist act targeting the nation’s lifeblood.”
In a separate development, Mohamed Al-Khal, a citizen journalist better known as Abu Bilel Al-Diri, was killed during government shelling of the Hamidiya district of the eastern city of Deir Ezzor on 25 November while he was covering clashes between government forces and members of the Free Syrian Army.
At least 16 professional journalists and 44 citizen journalists have been killed in connection with their work of gathering and disseminating news and information since the start of the armed conflict in Syria.
The citizen journalist Mohamed Qoraytem was killed during shelling of the southwest Damascus neighbourhood of Daraya on 29 November. He was one of the founders of the newspaper Enab Baladi and was a member of the Media Committee of the Days of Freedom (Ayam Al-Huria) group.
Qoraytem was arrested in 2003 in connection with his online activities.
