For four decades, the Assad regime managed to turn Syria into an information black hole by banning international journalists, monopolizing communications infrastructures and isolating Syrian citizens from the rest of the world. Two and a half years after the beginning of the popular uprising, the country has become a Bermuda triangle for journalists and media activists, both international and Syrian.
In December 2012, Reporters without Borders referred to Syria as “a cemetery for journalists,” a drama that continues to batter the country, leaving it with less and less witnesses of the atrocities committed against civilians. The number of journalists killed, arrested and kidnapped continues to increase, both in areas controlled by the regime and in the so-called liberated areas.
The recent kidnappings in the north of the country, most of which is free of regime control, attest to a scary trend: those who are using the power vacuum to impose their own agendas continue to repress freedom of expression.
Sky News crew disappears in the north of Syria
One of the most recent examples is the disappearance of Sky News’ three-member crew in the north of Syria on October 16: Lebanese photographer Samir Kassab, Mauritanian journalist Ishak Mokhtar and a Syrian reporter whose identity Syria Untold was unable to confirm. The three of them went missing while covering the humanitarian side of the conflict and there is no news of their whereabouts.
In a statement published by Sky News on October 22, Kassab´s family reminded those responsible for the disappearance of the team that the three were covering the situation on the ground from a humanitarian perspective.
“We have remained silent until now, to let the Lebanese authorities do their job, until we realized that they do not care about Samir´s fate. Today we want to appeal to the humanity of those responsible for the disappearance of Samir and his colleagues, and to remind them that they are not aligned with any side and they were just doing their job in the most professional manner.”
ISIS raids in Raqqa
While no one has claimed responsibility for the disappearance of the Sky News crew, other abductions have clear perpetrators. Such is the case of the kidnapping of media activist Rami al-Razzouk on October 1 in Raqqa (north central Syria).
As Global Voices Online portal reports, al-Razzouk, who worked for ANA New Media Association, was abducted by masked man while on route to a city district. The men later claimed to be members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS),
Later that day, the ANA office was raided and all equipment confiscated. As ANA´s co- director Rami Jarrah noted, “the office was closed down with a direct threat to the building owner.”
It is not the first time extremist insurgents stand in the way of free speech. Attacks against journalists and media activists have become common in Raqqa, the first provincial capital to be liberated by rebels, which has been repeatedly rampaged by ISIS.
While the regime´s tradition of censorship and repression is well-known, the violations of free speech in the “liberated” areas reveal a tragic trend. In the places where Syrians are trying to build something new, by engaging in different forms of self-management and self-government, extremists with their own agendas are silencing media and kidnapping the population.
