On the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Committed against Journalists, which falls on November 2 every year, the Syrian Network for Human Rights revealed documents indicating that 559 journalists and media workers were killed by the forces of the fallen regime since March 2011 until its fall and the liberation of Syria on December 8, 2024.
The network's director, Fadl Abdul Ghani, clarified in a statement to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) that 48 of these journalists died under torture in detention centers, while at least 1,612 journalists were injured. The network also recorded at least 1,358 cases of arrest or abduction of media figures, including 392 who are forcibly disappeared.
For his part, Abdul Ghani pointed out that international humanitarian law protects journalists as civilians, and that deliberately attacking them constitutes a war crime. He added that killing, torture, and enforced disappearance amount to crimes against humanity, noting that the network's database has become a damning body of evidence before national and international courts.
For her part, lawyer Radhaa Abdulwash, a member of the Women's and Rights and Freedoms Committees at the Central Bar Association, explained that the years of the revolution witnessed a systematic targeting of journalists through a system of compounded violations. She affirmed that the Bar Association adopts a comprehensive strategy to vindicate victims by training lawyers and legally empowering journalists to ensure a safe working environment.
It is worth noting that the UN General Assembly adopted this international day in 2013 to highlight violations and call for accountability for those responsible, in a context that gains special importance given what human rights entities have documented regarding violations committed by the fallen regime against journalists during the period between 2011 and 2024.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
Comments (0)