Tahrir al-Sham committing gross violations against journalists in Idlib

Aya Ezz

Tahrir al-Sham commits various violations against the media in the northeastern Syrian city of Idlib.

Incessant violence

On June 10, a group of militants affiliated to Tahrir al-Sham beat journalists covering the moves of Russian troops in Idlib’s southern countryside.

Tahrir al-Sham brought in a group of veiled women who pelted the Russian troops with stones. When the media arrived, the women attacked the media and destroyed the cameras and the tools of the journalists present, according to the official Syrian news agency.

It said the journalists attacked worked for a large number of international media outlets, including the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.

Protest

Some journalists staged a protest in Idlib against these attacks. They denounced repeated threats to them by Tahrir al-Sham.

Dozens of journalists participated in the protest, including journalists who worked for foreign news agencies.

They raised placards on which they wrote critical comments, including “cameras are the enemies of despots.”

Terrorist threat

The international NGO, Reporters without Borders, released a statement in which it denounced continual threats by Tahrir al-Sham to journalists.

It said journalists working in the northeastern Syrian city work in tough conditions and are continually harassed by Tahrir al-Sham.

Tahrir al-Sham sends the journalists audio threats to their mobile phones, Reporters without Borders said.

Mass detentions

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tahrir al-Sham usually arrests journalists and accuses them of crossing security barriers.

Most of the journalists are arrested while they are doing their work, the observatory said.

It noted that Tahrir al-Sham had detained over 30 journalists so far.

The journalists spend two months in Tahrir al-Sham’s jails at least before they are released, the observatory said.

It added that Tahrir al-Sham usually tortures the journalists in its custody.