"World Press Freedom Day"... Hundreds of journalists and media professionals have been killed in Syria since 2011

ARK News… The Syrian Network for Human Rights said in a statement on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day that it has documented the killing of 717 journalists and media workers since March 2011.

The statement stated that the various parties to the conflict “have mastered, since the outbreak of the popular movement in Syria, practices that violate the freedom of the press, opinion, and expression, and have committed multiple types of grave violations, including extrajudicial killing, forced arrest/disappearance, torture, attacks on facilities, and enactment of laws against... This would restrict freedom of the press, opinion and expression.”

The statement held the Syrian regime most responsible for the worst rankings Syria has achieved in the world “with regard to freedom of the press and media work, and distorting the image of Syria and the Syrian people.”

Violations against journalists and media workers were not limited to the Syrian regime only, but “extended to include all parties to the conflict and the controlling forces.”

Victim toll from March 2011 to May 2024

The Syrian Network recorded the killing of 717 journalists and media workers at the hands of the parties to the conflict and the controlling forces in Syria, including 7 children, 6 women (adult female), 9 foreign journalists, and 53 killed due to torture.

In addition, at least 1,612 people were injured with varying injuries.

Arbitrary arrest and enforced disappearance

In terms of arbitrary arrest/detention or enforced disappearance, at least 1,358 cases of arrest and kidnapping of journalists and media workers were recorded at the hands of the parties to the conflict and the controlling forces in Syria.

While about 486 of them, including 9 women and 17 foreign journalists, are still under arrest or forcibly disappeared.

The statement affirmed that there will be no freedom of the press, opinion, and expression as long as dictatorship and tyranny remain, and that “the only way to change the reality of suppressing and restricting basic freedoms is to achieve a political transition in Syria.”

It said that all parties to the conflict and the controlling forces in Syria “have violated many of the rules and laws of international human rights law in the areas they control, especially freedom of opinion and expression, such as Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article (19-2) of the International Covenant.” Concerning civil and political rights.

It also violated many rules and laws of international humanitarian law, most notably Rule 34 of martial law, which requires respect and protection of journalists in conflict areas as long as they do not make direct efforts in hostilities.

The statement recommended that the UN Security Council and the international community make "clear efforts to end the state of conflict in Syria through a political process that transfers Syria from a totalitarian state to a democratic state that respects freedom of the press, opinion and expression."

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