The Syrian Center for Journalistic Freedoms of the Syrian Journalists’ Association said that the Assad regime and its allies’ systematic bombing of the ‘de-escalation zone’ in northwestern Syria was a major cause of the violations as two journalists were killed in the region in June.
In a report issued on Friday, the Center said that it recorded five violations against the media workers across in Syria in June, three of which were committed by the Assad regime.
The report pointed out that the Assad regime and allies’ intensification of the bombing of northwestern Syria has restricted the ability of media workers to carry out their duty as well as caused chaos in some areas of Syria.
According to the report, three of those violations took palce in the province of Hama. The journalist Amjad Bakir was killed in regime shelling while he was reporting on the battles in northern rural Hama. The journalists Abdul Aziz Najm and Tariq al-Ibrahim were wounded in artillery shelling by regime forces in rural Hama.
Media activist Omar Dimashqi died in an explosion of IED that was planted in his car in rural Idlib.
In the province of Hasaka, meanwhile, the PYD militia detained the media activist Mohammed al-Saghir for filming the fires that ravaged the wheat crops in Qamishli.
The Center called for respecting freedom of the press; ensuring the safety of media workers; and holding those responsible for violations to account. It also called for respecting article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which stresses that “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
