Four years on the continued abduction of the media colleague Farhad Hamo

ARK News: Four years have passed since the arrest of Da’esh organization for the media colleague Farhad Hamo, a member of the Kurdistan Journalists Association - Syria and a correspondent for the Rudaw media network.

The two colleagues, Farhad Hamo and the photographer Masoud Aqil, were exposed on 15-12-2014 to the kidnapping by Da’esh organization, during the assignment of the task of work of a television report on the international road between the city of Qamishlo and the town of Tal Hamis in rural province of Hasakah and conduct a dialogue with one of the region’s notables.

Eleven months later, Masoud Aqil was released during a prisoner exchange deal between the "state organization" (Da’esh)and self-administration od (PYD) near the town of al-Hool in southern Hasakah countryside on 21 September 2015 through tribal mediation, however, the fate of the media man, Farhad Hamo has not been Known until now.

We, in the Council of Journalists Syndicate of Kurdistan - Syria, are expressing our fear of the continued abduction of the colleague, Farhad Hamo for the fourth consecutive years, there is a concern for his fate and the interruption of his news throughout these years. We call on relevant international press organizations to pay attention to the fate of Hamo.

We also call on international bodies to pressure the parties to the conflict to ensure the freedom of media and media men, and protect them from murder and kidnapping, we hope from colleagues and media colleagues to be cautious while doing media work in Syria, which is at the forefront of the countries where journalism is becoming dangerous. Journalists by the regime and other armed groups are exposed to great dangers, the least of which is detention and absences in prisons for many years.

The self-management had recently released a number of members of Da’esh organization, and it was worthwhile to put the name of the colleague Hamo, who is a native Qamishlo among the list of the exchange of prisoners, but this was not done despite the promises of his release in the past years.

Council of Journalists Syndicate of Kurdistan – Syria

15-12-2018

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