- In June 2017, 8 violations against media professionals in Syria were documented, including 2 killings and 6 injuries. The Islamic State was responsible for 4 violations and the Syrian regime was responsible for 2. - The 2 media professionals killed were Mehran al-Kargosli, killed in an airstrike by the Syrian regime, and Maher Abu Hamza, found shot dead in mysterious circumstances. - 6 media professionals were injured, including 3 injured by an IED dropped by an Islamic State drone and 1 injured in an explosion in Aleppo.

3. The continued de-escalation of tension in some parts of Syria, and the reduction in
the number of aggressive actions is reflected in the reduced number of violations
documented in general. This reduction is also reflected in the reduced number of
violations committed against media professionals during June 2017 in comparison
to previous months of 2017.
The Syrian Center for Journalistic Freedom (SCJF) in the Syrian Journalist
Association (SJA) documented eight violations in June 2017 including the killing
and injury of media professionals. The killing of Mehran al-Kargosli and Maher Abu
Hamza increase the number of media professionals killed since the start of the
revolution in mid-April 2011 to 409 media professionals.
june 2017 report 1 Violations against Media
Report Introduction
The Killing of Media Professionals and the Injury of Others
The Regime Gives First Place to Daesh
June 2017 Violations
January February March April may June
13
28 26
40
17
8
Indicator of
the Number
of Monthly
Violations

4. In June 2017, the Syrian regime came second as the perpetrator of violations
against media professionals for the Islamic State forces (Daesh) to take the lead.
The Islamic State forces were responsible for four violations while the Syrian
regime was responsible for two. There were two cases of violations where the
perpetrators remain unknown.
Geographically, al-Raqqah city east of Syria witnessed three violations due to the
escalation of the battles in the area between the Islamic State forces and the
Syrian Democratic Forces and its allies in the Global Coalition. Damascus suburb
came second as it was the site for two violations due to the regime and its allies’
escalating their bombardment on the areas outside of its control. Idlib city, Aleppo
city, and al-Sweida each witnessed one violation.
June 2017 witnessed the killing of two media professionals and the injury of six
media professionals.
Syrian women still face great difficulties in working in the media profession in
Syria because this profession is fraught with risk particularly during the period of
armed conflicts. As a result, female media professionals are almost none existed
on the Syrian media arena at this time, especially in areas that are outside of
regime control. In areas controlled by the regime, the regime’s absolute grip on
media institutions preventing media professionals from working without
censorship except within a small and negligible margin. The regime’s absolute
june 2017 report 2 Violations against Media
The parties responsible for the
violations in June 2017
al-Raqqah
Damascus Suburbs
Aleppo
Idlib
Al-Sweida
The geographical distribution of the
violations during June 2017

5. control over media institutions
and professionals within areas
under its control is the reason
why the regime security
apparatus does not target
f e m a l e o r m a l e m e d i a
professionals in its areas. These
various factors offer an
explanation for the reason there have
been no violations against female
media professionals for several months.
On the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with Victims of Torture, the
Syrian Center for Journalistic Freedoms issued a special report documenting 29
cases of media professionals killed under torture in various Syrian regime prisons.
The report was issued by the Syrian Journalist Association in solidarity with media
professionals who have experienced the worst forms of torture imaginable.
“As our association continues to do its duty to follow up on what Syrian journalists
experience as a result of the ongoing war in their country and to draw attention to
it, the Center for Journalistic Freedoms in the Association continues to
indiscriminately monitor the violations against media professionals occurring
everywhere in Syria and perpetrated by all parties to the conflict though the
Syrian regime and the so-called Islamic State are the primary perpetrators. These
forces are supported by different parties to the conflict without the slightest
sense of guilt or consideration for monitoring or accountability and with a
constant feeling that they can evade punishment. This [impunity] is a constant
motivation to disregard the lives of journalists and deliberately target them to
hide and obliterate the truth. Despite the decline in the number of violations in
general from the previous months due to the decrease in the areas of clashes and
tension, and the sessation of fighting on some fronts, except a feeling of
insecurity continues to dominant all those working in the media profession in
Syria. With international justice systems continuing to disregard the perpetrators
of these crimes against journalists, we continue as a monitoring body to do our
duty as witnesses documenting reality,” said Souad Khabia, the head of the
Freedoms Committee in the Syrian Journalist Association.
4/7/2017
Syrian Center for Journalistic Freedoms
Syrian Journalistic Association
june 2017 report 3 Violations against Media
Type of Violations against media
professionals during June 2017

6. The SCJF follows specific standards, according to international laws and
regulations to protect media professionals, in documenting the violations
committed against media professionals and activists. The SCJF documents
violations against media professionals perpetrated by all parties to the conflict in
Syria and violations against Syrian media professionals that occur outside Syria.
The SCJF maintains professionalism, transparency, and accuracy in gathering
and documenting the information and positioning it in its proper legal framework.
The center takes as its launch point its belief in its duty to document the violations
that occur against media professionals and to protect them and their future rights
to reparation, and ensure that the perpetrators will not escape punishment. The
center aims to reach a free and unbiased media to achieve justice and equality in
the future Syria.
These standards include
1. Media Professional Victims: The SCJF documents violations against media
professionals in Syria, regardless of their nationalities, sex, race, sect or
employer, or the aggressor. The center documents attacks on Syrian media
professionals outside Syria. The center documents violations against media
offices, centers, and organizations. The center does not publish news of
violations if the victims or their relatives request it.
2. Violation During Media Work: The SCJF documents violations against media
professionals while they are undertaking media related work, regardless of if they
were directly or indirectly targeted. For example, the center documents the injury
suffered by a media professional during indirect bombardments or shooting while
s/he films or documents events. The center does not document the case of a
media professional injured in similar circumstances if s/he is doing a task
unrelated to media work such as rescuing victims, or the media professional was
among the victims of indiscriminate bombardment while not undertaking
professional work. The center does not document cases of media professionals
dying from natural causes or reasons unrelated to media work such as natural
death or traffic accidents.
3. Media Professionals Involved to Armed Action: The SCJF refrains from
documenting attacks against media professionals involved in armed action such
june 2017 report 4 Violations against Media
Standards Followed in Documenting Violations

7. as carrying or transporting weapons, even if in self-defense. The center refrains
from documenting violations against media professionals based on their mistakes
such as wearing military uniforms or raising military symbols which make it
difficult to distinguish the media professional from fighters, and render the media
professional a possible target. The center documents violations against media
professional who left armed action and cut his link to armed action according to
this standard.
4. Media Professionals in Armed Forces: The center documents violations
against media professionals affiliated with armed forces provided that they are
not involved in the armed action according to the previous criterion. However, the
center documents the violations against these media professionals in a separate
section as described in the first standard about media professional victims. In its
reports, the center refers to these media professionals’ affiliation to armed
battalions. The violations against them are not included in the quantitative data
on the number of violations against media professionals. They are relegated to a
separate section of the database.
5. Definitions: The SJA’s rules of procedure apply especially, the articles relating
to the definition of media professional, journalist and citizen journalist in case of a
conflict between these terms.
(1) Media Professional: A term that includes journalists, citizen journalists and
everyone who works in the media field.
(2) Journalist: A person who practices the profession of journalism and earns
most of her/his income from it. S/He may be associated with an official contract to
an agency or media outlet or several media outlets, or works as a freelancer.
(3) Citizen Journalist: Any person who works in media profession who does not
fall under the previous definition, whether he works independently, was affiliated
with centers or bodies or media outlets.
(4) Violation: Any physical or moral attack on a media professional or his/her
equipment that causes physical or moral harm to him/her or prevents him/her
from working freely.
june 2017 report 5 Violations against Media

8. 1-Mehran al-Kargosli, media activist, was killed
when regime airplanes bombed the town of Haza
in the Eastern Ghouta of Damascus with
thermobaric missiles on Friday 23/6/2017.
Al-Kargosli was an independent media
professional who cooperated with Smart news
agency. He was born in Haza in the Eastern
Ghouta of Damascus and was married with two
children.
Yaman al-Sayed, a media professional, said to the
SJA that al-Kargosli died due to a head injury
sustained when a Syrian regime aircraft launched
an airstrike targeting the building he lived in
Haza. Al-Sayed added that “four civilians, including children, were killed along with
al-Kargosli,” as a result of the bombing.
2-The journalist Maher Ziad Abu Hamza was
killed near the city of al-Sweida under mysterious
circumstances. He was found dead inside his car
due to bullet wounds. It appears he was shot by
unknown persons on the Dhir al-Jabal road
(Junjla HIll) near the city of al-Sweida on the
evening of Tuesday 25/06/2017. According to the
media professional Ahid Murad, they lost contact
with Abu Hamza after he left his house on the
evening of Sunday 23/06/2017.
Maher Abu Hamza, was born in Qanawat in al-
Sweida province in 1989. He has held several
journalistic positions including serving as a
producer at Karma FM station, and the manager
of the al-Masirah newspaper office. He is married with two children.
On its social media sites Al-Sweida 24 reported that Maher's body had been
transferred to al-Sweida National Hospital where the al-Assad security services
are conducting their investigations to uncover the circumstances of the incident.
june 2017 report 6 Violations against Media
The Killing of Media Professionals
Mehran al-Kargosli
Maher Abu Hamza

9. *Radwan Rashid Othman, Alaa Abdel Salam Mulla Saadoun
and Rustam Abdel Qader sustained injuries from shrapnel
from a bomb fired by the Islamic State forces on their location in
al-Raqqah city on 09/06/2017. The three media professionals
were covering the battles between Islamic State forces and the
Syrian Democratic Forces in the city.
Radwan, known professionally as Radwan Bezar, is a reporter
for Kurdistan 24 channel. Rustam works as a reporter for the
United Press network. Saadoun works for Smart News agency.
In a statement to the SCJF, Saadoun said, “My colleagues and I
were injured in al-Raqqa city by shrapnel from an improvised
explosive device fired by a reconnaissance plane belonging to
Daesh (Islamic State forces) in the western outskirts of al-
Mashlab neighborhood east of the city. Three pieces of shrapnel lodged in my body,
two in my stomach and the other in my hand. My colleagues and I were immediately
moved to a medical point to receive first aid. We were then transferred to a hospital in
Kobani (Ain Arab) and our health status is now stable.”
Speaking to the SJA, Radwan Bezar recounted the events as he experienced
them. He explained that “the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) media officers
divided the reporters into small groups for them to alternate covering events in
Mashlab neighborhood in al-Raqqah city, I was in the first group with my
colleagues Saadoun and Abdel Qader and six Syrian Democratic Force fighters
to protect us.”
june 2017 report 7 Violations against Media
The Injury of Media Professionals
Radwan bezar
Rustam Abdel Qader Alaa Mulla Saadoun

10. He said, “After we went to end of the Mashlab neighborhood overlooking the industrial
district, we were surprised by the sound of a reconnaissance airplane operated
remotely by Islamic State force members. We tried to escape and take cover under
trees, and the fighters with us shot at it with the aim of bringing it down, but it continued
to fly over our heads and then it dropped a bomb about 3 meters away from us. This
resulted in Saadoun sustaining several shrapnel injuries all over his body and Abdel
Qader sustaining a small shrapnel injury in his head while I was hit by a small piece of
shrapnel under my arm pit.”
“The Syrian Democratic Forces fighters took us to the nearest medical point, and from
there they accompanied us to a medical center near the village of Hazima. We were
then transported by ambulance to Kobani hospital (Ein al-Arab), where we received
proper treatment. Our injuries were all mild or semi-serious and we were told that our
health condition is stable, and the doctors will remove the small fragments of shrapnel
from our bodies in the coming days,” explained Bezar.
He pointed out that “the Islamic State had previously used reconnaissance planes to
target fighters and media professionals during the battle to take control of al-Tabaqa
city.” Bezar ended his statement to the SJA by thanking the Syrian Democratic Forces
for their care and taking them to the hospital, and the field medical staff accompanying
SDF and hospital staff in Kobani.
• The media activist Shahr al-Droush, known as
Abu Hamza, was seriously injured after a person
detonated an explosive device close to a military
headquarters in al-Bab city in Aleppo’s eastern
countryside at dawn on Tuesday 20/6/2017.
Since the beginning of 2016, al-Droush has been
working as a reporter for al-Adeyeh media outlet.
He is from the neighborhood of al-Khalidiya in
Homs. He was among the activists who covered
the siege and shelling of al-Waer neighborhood.
Al-Droush was forced, with many others, to leave al-Waer and he ended up in al-Bab city
in February 2017.
Droush was injured while-Adeyeh News reported that al-al ,On its official website
subordinate to the Free ,Sunnah-covering a security operation carried out by Jaish al
against the remaining members of the Islamic State Forces and some ,Syrian Army
.s security and subject to prosecution'groups that are disturbing the city
,Bab-Droush was transferred to a nearby hospital in the city of al-Adeyeh added that al-Al
june 2017 report 8 Violations against Media
Shahr al-Droush

11. .where he is receiving treatment and his condition is stable now
The media outlet quoted security sources saying that the person who detonated the
The .explosive device has been caught after he was injured in the same explosion
.security sources suggest that the person belongs to one of the groups being prosecuted
• The media activist Mohammed Fateh Raslan was
injured after an explosive device was detonated in Idlib
city while he was covering the Eid al-Fitr festivities in the
city on Sunday, 25/06/2017.
Raslan has been working as a media activist and
photographer for three years in Aleppo. He previously
worked for Aleppo News Network. He is currently a
reporter for Step News and the manager of al-Khtwa
News Network’s office inAleppo. He was born in 1994.
“I was injured by pieces of shrapnel and sustained
bruises in my body. One of the pieces of shrapnel was in
my head, my eardrum ruptured as a result of an
explosive device detonating close to the city’s market while I was covering the Eid
festivities in the city,” Mohammed Fateh said in a statement to the SCJF.
He mentioned that he was taken to the Idlib city hospital for treatment, and that his
condition is currently stable.
According to al-Khtwa Agency’s official website, an explosion was caused by an
explosive device was planted in a garbage container near the shopping festival in Idlib
city which resulted in the injury of Raslan the manager of itsAleppo office.
• The media activist Daham Al-Mazawi was injured
by Syrian regime forces firing on his location while
he was covering the clashes in Joubar in the
suburbs of Damascus on Friday 23/06/2017.
Al-Mazawi is a reporter for the Damascus Media
Center, and the hero of the film “The Strong Rope”
which talks about bridging ranks, renouncing
differences and uniting the Syrian opposition
factions to overthrow the regime.
Media outlets quoted media activists saying that al-
Mazawi was injured in the village of Joubar in the
suburbs of Damascus while covering the regime's
attempt to break into the neighborhood.
june 2017 report 9 Violations against Media
Mohammed Raslan
Daham Al-Mazawi

12. On June 29, 2017, the Committee to Protect Journalists, an American organization that
defends journalists and the freedom of press, called on officials from the Democratic
Unionist Party (PYD) in northern Syria to release the media professional Barzan Hussein
Liani after he was arrested by the Asayish forces, subordinate to the Autonomous
Administration, in Rmelian in al-Hasakah’s northern countryside on May 13, 2017.
The Committee published the following statement on its official website, “We at the
Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent press freedom advocacy organization,
write to urge that you instruct the Kurdish forces under your control to release Barzan
Hussein Liani, a journalist whom members of the Asayish security force detained more
than a month and a half ago.” The statement continued explaining that the director for
Zagros TV informed the Committee that witnesses reported that a patrol stopped Liani’s
car and escorted him to Rmelian.
The Committee expressed its deep concern about Liani’s health and urged the
authorities to allow Liani’s family and lawyer to communicate with him and know his
latest news.
Barzan Hussein Liani, is a journalist working for Zagros channel which broadcasts from
the Kurdistan region of Iraq. He was arrested by the Asayish forces on 13/05/2017. His
brother Kalal Liani posted on his Facebook page that Barzan was taken with his car after
the Asayish forces prevented him from returning to the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
It is worth mentioning that the SCJF has documented many of the violations perpetrated
against media professionals in the areas under Democratic Union Party control since the
beginning of the Syrian revolution in 2011.
june 2017 report 10 Violations against Media
The Committee for the Protection of Media Professionals
Demands the Autonomous Administration to Immediately
Release the Media Professional "Barzan Liani"

13. *On June 6, 2017, Our Children, an
organization which deals with
humanitarian affairs in Syria, honored
some of the displaced media
professionals from Aleppo in the
village of al-Saharet in the western
countryside of Aleppo city.
The organization honored Mahmoud
Aziza, known as Abu al-Izz al-Halabi,
correspondent for the Aleppo News
Network and Qasioun News Agency,
who also collaborates with several
foreign and local media agencies.
Mohamed Halaq, known as Abu al-Huda, a reporter for Al-Jazeera. Ammar Jaber,
a reporter for Orient News channel. Ahmed Abdul Rahman, reporter for al-Jisr
satellite channel, and the media activist Ali Marsad, reporter for the Aleppo News
Network.
In a statement to SCJF, Mahmoud Aziza said “On June 6, my colleagues and I
were honored by the Our Children organization in a step to recognize the efforts
of media professionals and activists in covering recent events in Aleppo prior to
the displacement. The honors were awarded in part based on the major role the
media played in communicating the suffering of the city’s people during the first
and second siege, and their role in documenting the Syrian regime and its ally
Russia’s crimes where Russia committed the most terrible crimes in Aleppo.”
“The award was symbolic, but it has very important meanings for us as media
professionals. It pushes us to make more effort and give more to communicate
the Syrian people’s message to all the countries of the world and transfer the
reality of what is happening on the ground in Syria,” said Aziza.
*On June 5, 2017, the Newseum Institute of
Journalism in Washington, DC, honored 14
journalists, including six Syrian journalists,
killed during work in 2016 at a ceremony
highlighting the threats to freedom of
expression and media across the world.
According to Agence France Presse (AFP),
Mustafa Abdel Hassan of the Sham News
Network, Mohammed Marwan al-Issa of the
june 2017 report 11 Violations against Media
Honoring Syrian Media Professionals

14. Network of Regions, Samer Mohammed al-Abboud from Deir Ez Zor Free Radio,
and Sami Jawdat Rabah from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights were all
honored in the Newseum Institute ceremony.
In its June 2016 report, the SCJF documented the killing of 12 journalists in Syria,
including the four journalists honored in this event. At the time, the Islamic State
Forces issues a video entitled “Satanic Revelation” showing the brutal killing of
the four journalists in addition to the journalist Mahmoud al-Haj Khader.
The Newseum Institute memorialized the 14 journalists’ names.
“Journalists faced unprecedented risks last year while covering news most often
in countries in which press freedom is threatened or non-existent,” said Jean
Polishinsky, head of operations at the institute.
He added that the journalists whose names were memorialized, “sacrificed their
lives in their quest to serve the public and many of them continued to work after
being attacked or receiving death threats.”
1- The Syrian media activist and
photographer, Karam al-Masri, won the
Knight International Journalism Award for
2017, which is presented annually by the
International Center for Journalists in
Washington DC to journalist who have a
great influence around the world.
Al-Masri, 25, has worked independently
as a media professional in the eastern
part of Aleppo since the start of the Syrian
revolution in 2011. When he first started
his media work, he photographed anti-regime demonstrations on his mobile
phone, and then later bought a professional camera to capture better pictures of
the suffering caused by the war.
In 2013, he became an independent photographer for AFP and remained in
Aleppo until the forced displacement from the eastern section of the city at the
end of 2016. He then applied for asylum in France where he now resides.
Speaking to the SJA, al-Masri said that he won the 2017 Knight International
Journalism Award based on his hard work in Aleppo city where he worked under
continuous bombardment, siege and then displacement.
He explained that he was chosen among thousands of candidates and that the
june 2017 report 12 Violations against Media
Awards for Syrian Media
Karam al-Masri

15. International Center for Journalists will hold an award ceremony in Washington
on November 09, 2017.
It must be mentioned that Karam al-Masri won several awards in 2016, such as
Days Japan, the Istanbul Photo Award for photojournalism, and the Varenne
Foundation award for journalism in the category of best video journalism report.
2- Radio Rozana won the second prize in a media competition concerned
with coverage of migration issues in the Euro-Mediterranean region among
Arabic radios. The radio won the second place for one of the episodes of the
Focus program. Soulafa Lababidi, a journalist with ten years of experience in
the media field and SJA member, prepared the program in the Paris Studio.
Rozana won an Excellence Award for the importance of news for its episode “The
Human Organ Trade… Secrets and Relation to Refugees” which was
broadcasted as part of the Focus program.
Radio Rozana participated in the competition with three topics concerning Syrian
refugees which were prepared by journalists working for the institution.
june 2017 report 13 Violations against Media
Soulafa Lababidi

16. 3- On June 9, 2017, the Syrian photographer and media activist Issa Ali
Khader, known as Khalifah al-Khader, received the Samir Kassir Award for
Freedom of the Press for 2017 for an opinion article. He received the award at a
ceremony on the twelfth anniversary of Samir Kassir’s assassination.
The awards ceremony was held in Beirut under the auspices of the European
Union Ambassador Christina Lassen who attended the event, as well as other
politicians and media professionals.
Al-Khadr works as a photographer and essayist. He has published articles in the
journal Hentah, and the magazines al-Modon and al-Jumhuriya. Al-Khadr, born in
Aleppo in 1993, was formerly detained by the Islamic State forces.
He won the prize for an article entitled “When do you want to kill me?” published
in al-Jumhuriya magazine. In the piece, he described the diary of a detainee in an
Islamic State prison a few weeks before he is executed.
In a statement to the SCJF, al-Kadr said “winning the prize for the story about a
person who was detained by the Islamic State gives me a sense of victory over
that the Islamic State which has the
wrong belief that by intimidating
people in its prisons and especially
journalists, it will be able to muzzle
their mouths and mute their voices.”
“I was not able to travel to the awards
ceremony in Beirut for legal reasons,
and I participated in the ceremony by
sending a video clip.” In his speech,
al-Khadr dedicated the award to
citizen journalists of all ages, and to
the jailer who told Faisal Kasmo, the
hero of al-Khadr’s story, (We won’t kill
you the way you want...). Al-Khadr
pointed out that “the jailer disappeared
as a person, while Kasmo’s story has
won the award.”
Al-Khadr also dedicated the award to all the detainee held in the Islamic State,
Syrian regime or opposition factions’ detentions and prisons, and to every
absentee and martyr of the Syrian revolution.
june 2017 report 14 Violations against Media

17. On Friday, June 09, 2017, the Turkish judiciary
sentenced Naji al-Jerf’s murderer to two
consecutive life sentences. Naji al-Jerf, a
Syrian journalist from Hama province, was
assassinated in Gaziantep in late 2015.
The Fourth Criminal Court in Gaziantep
sentenced Yusuf Hamed Eshverihi to one life
sentence for trying to overthrow the
constitutional order by belonging to the Islamic
State and a second life sentence for
committing homicide. Farag al-Hussein, Ali
Cerkez, and Reyad Matar, arrested on
suspicion of their involvement in the case,
were released for lack of sufficient evidence.
The late al-Jerf worked as the editor in chief of
Hentah magazine, was a member of the “Al-
Raqqah is being Killed Silently” campaign, and a member of the Syrian
Journalists Association. He was shot and killed by attackers attackers near the
Agor Plaza building on Ghazi Mokhtar Pasha Street in central Gaziantep on
27/12/2015.
Al-Jerf is from the city of al-Salamiyeh in the eastern countryside of Hama. He
headed to Turkey after he was pursued by the Syrian regime. In Turkey, he
trained hundreds of media activists and continued his media activities until the
date of his assassination.
june 2017 report 15 Violations against Media
Two Consecutive Life Sentences for Naji al-Jerf’s Killer
Naji al-Jerf

18. In times of war, journalists and media professionals are treated as civilians and
therefore all parties involved in the conflict must ensure their protection.
According to Hussein al-Hasan, a member of the Syrian Judicial Council, Article 79
of the Additional Protocol to the 1949 Geneva Convention for the Protection of
Civilian Persons in Armed Conflict states that civilian journalists performing their
duties in areas of armed conflict must be respected and treated as civilians and
protected from any form of deliberate attack provided they do not act contrary to
their status as civilians.
The Security Council Resolution 1738 of 2006 included the following:
- Condemning deliberate attacks against journalists, media professionals and any
associated personnel during armed conflicts.
- Equating the safety and security of journalists, media and aid professionals in
areas of armed conflict to the protection of civilians there.
- Considering journalists and independent reporters as civilians to be respected
and treated as such.
- Considering media installations and equipment as civilian objects that may not
be the target of any attacks or reprisals.
Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, crimes against
civilians and objects, including media headquarters, are considered war crimes and
crimes against humanity (articles 7 and 8).
Therefore, the actions of the various parties committing violations against
journalists and media professionals in Syria from killing, enforced disappearance,
assault on media institutions and other violations amount to war crimes and
crimes against humanity.
As such the Syrian Center for Journalistic Freedoms of the Syrian Journalists'
Association calls for all parties to respect journalistic freedom, ensure the safety
of media professionals and hold those responsible for violations accountable. It
calls upon all the actors in Syria and the international parties concerned to enforce
international laws specially for the protection and defense of media professionals,
journalistic freedoms, and the right to communicate information in Syria. The
center also recommends that all parties to the conflict respect the text of Article
19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: “Everyone has the
right to freedom of opinion and expression. This right includes the freedom to hold
opinions without interference, to receive and impart information and ideas using
any medium and without limits and geographical limitations.”
june 2017 report 16 Violations against Media
Conclusion: Recommendations from the Syrian
center for Journalistic Freedoms