Ongoing Violations by the Assad Regime Against Media Workers

The Syrian Network for Human Rights said that five journalists were killed, 13 others kidnapped or detained and five more injured during December 2014. By the end of 2014, 384 journalists and media activists were killed in Syria, classified as the most dangerous place for journalists. Mohammed Qaddah, Vice President of the Syrian Coalition, said that “Assad’s warplanes, tanks and barrel bombs will not succeed in silencing the pens and lenses of journalists or stopping them from conveying the truth to the outside world.” His statement followed the death of three Orient TV’s correspondents in rural Dara’a last month after regime forces targeted their broadcasting vehicle with a heat-seeking missile. “Rami al-Assimi, Yousef al-Dous and Salim al-Khalil were the pens and cameras that regime forces sought to silence in order to hide the truth. Journalists and cameramen have always been targets for the Assad regime that has killed dozens of them since the beginning of the revolution,” Qaddah said. “Out of their great sense of responsibility, they raced to the battle front lines and the most dangerous places to bear witness to Assad’s atrocious crimes against the Syrian people, risking their lives for the sake of creating free and independent national media. The loss of such truthful heroes really saddens us, but our consolation is our certainty that one day we will achieve the goals for which they sacrificed their lives. These heroes do not die even though they leave this life, but their deaths become meaningless when we are deflected from the path that they set for us.” Qaddah calls upon all human rights organizations to put an immediate end to these brutal acts and violations committed by the Assad regime against journalist and media workers. (Source: Syrian Coalition)