In Syria, wave of deadly attacks against journalists

Source: www.cpj.org

New York, August 14, 2012–A series of attacks against journalists in Syria over the past two weeks have included the killing of at least three journalists and the kidnapping of several others, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Pro-government media have borne the brunt of the recent attacks.

Hatem Abu Yehia, a camera assistant with the pro-government television station Al-Ikhbariya, is believed dead, his employer reported on Monday, according to the SANA state news agency. Abu Yehia was kidnapped by rebels belonging to the Free Syrian Army in the Damascus suburb of Al-Tal on Friday along with his colleagues Yara al-Saleh, an anchor for the station, Abdullah Tubara, a cameraman, and driver Hussam Imand, according to news reports. The Al-Ikhbariya team was covering clashes in Al-Tal between rebels and security forces when they were kidnapped, news reports said.

Bara’a Yusuf al-Bushi, who contributed reports and footage to international outlets including the pan-Arab news channel Al-Arabiya, Al-Jazeera, and Sky News, was killed in government shelling of Al-Tal while covering clashes there, Al-Arabiya reported. Al-Bushi had defected to the Free Syrian Army in May from his mandatory government military service, news reports said.

Journalist captured by militants in Syria feared dead

Source: www.7daysindubai.com

5 August 2012

A militant group has claimed responsibility for the kidnap and killing of a Syrian television presenter and has threatened more attacks on supporters of President Bashar Al Assad, the SITE monitoring group which tracks insurgent websites said on Sunday.

SITE said the Al Nusra Front stated in one of four communiques posted on fundamentalist forums on August 3 that it had kidnapped Mohammed Al Saeed in Damascus province on July 19, and killed him after subjecting him to interrogation.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the Syrian state Tv presenter, who was taken from his home in mid-July, had been executed.

“Perhaps this operation and others will serve as an example to all who support this tyrannical regime, so that they may repent to God,” SITE quoted the militant group as saying in a statement.

“Otherwise, the swords of the mujahideen will cut off their heads and purify the Levant (Syria) from their obscenity.”

It was not immediately possible to verify the claim from the group, which was unknown before it claimed responsibility for a series of bombings in Damascus and Aleppo that started in December.

Last month, the group claimed responsibility for a raid and bombing on June 27 of Ikhbariya headquarters, a pro-government Syrian TV channel, in which seven people were killed.

In June, the Al Nusra Front claimed responsibility for the killing of 13 men whose bodies were found bound and shot in the city of Deir Al Zor in eastern Syria on May 29. The killings condemned by United Nations monitors as “appalling and inexcusable”.

Commenting on the story, Ribal Al-Assad, Director of the ODFS, said:

“I condemn the kidnapping and killing of journalists by all sides. It is vital that journalists are protected. All Parties to the conflict should remember that journalists are civilians and that attacking, kidnapping or killing them is a serious breach of International humanitarian law.

“The arms flow into Syria and the presence of Jihadi groups has further militarised the conflict and increased the likelihood of such attacks. Therefore I call on all those states supplying weapons to stop so the violence can be de-escalated.

“I urge both sides in the Syrian conflict to halt the violence and give diplomacy a chance so we can move towards dialogue and a peaceful transition as that is the only way forward.”