As many as 538 journalists and media activists have been killed in attacks by the Assad regime forces since the outbreak of the revolution in 2011, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said. The Syrian Coalition stressed that the targeting of journalists is aimed at hiding the truth and covering up the war crimes that the Assad regime is committing against civilians.
In a new report released on Thursday, the Network said that a total of 683 journalists and media workers have been killed across Syria since March 2011, including 18 who were killed in attacks by Russian forces.
The report indicated that 833 more journalists and media activists have been detained and forcibly disappeared by the Assad regime, pointing out that these violations constituted war crimes under International Law.
Reporters Without Borders earlier placed Syria at the top of its list of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists in 2017 in view of the Assad regime’s crackdown on public freedoms.
According to the SNHR’s report, 89 journalists and media workers have been killed or injured in Syria since the beginning of 2017, mostly in at attacks by the Assad regime forces and their allied foreign militias. The Syrian Center for Press Freedoms of the Association of Syrian Journalists said it had recorded no fewer than 14 violations against journalists and media activists in March.
The Syrian Coalition strongly condemned the crimes and widespread violations the Assad regime forces are committing against media workers in Syria. It emphasized that these crimes must be included in the litany of war crimes the Assad regime is committing, renewing calls for the referral of Syria to the International Criminal Court to hold war criminals accountable. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
