Tahrir al-Sham committing gross violations against journalists in Idlib
Tahrir al-Sham commits various violations against the media in the northeastern Syrian city of Idlib.
Incessant violence
On
June 10, a group of militants affiliated to Tahrir al-Sham beat journalists
covering the moves of Russian troops in Idlib's southern countryside.
Tahrir
al-Sham brought in a group of veiled women who pelted the Russian troops with
stones. When the media arrived, the women attacked the media and destroyed the
cameras and the tools of the journalists present, according to the official
Syrian news agency.
It
said the journalists attacked worked for a large number of international media
outlets, including the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
Protest
Some journalists staged a protest in Idlib
against these attacks. They denounced repeated threats to them by Tahrir
al-Sham.
Dozens of journalists participated in the
protest, including journalists who worked for foreign news agencies.
They raised placards on which they wrote
critical comments, including "cameras are the enemies of despots."
Terrorist threat
The international NGO, Reporters without
Borders, released a statement in which it denounced continual threats by Tahrir
al-Sham to journalists.
It said journalists working in the northeastern
Syrian city work in tough conditions and are continually harassed by Tahrir
al-Sham.
Tahrir al-Sham sends the journalists audio
threats to their mobile phones, Reporters without Borders said.
Mass detentions
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights said Tahrir al-Sham usually arrests journalists and accuses them of
crossing security barriers.
Most of the journalists are arrested while they
are doing their work, the observatory said.
It noted that Tahrir al-Sham had detained over
30 journalists so far.
The journalists spend two months in Tahrir
al-Sham's jails at least before they are released, the observatory said.
It added that Tahrir al-Sham usually tortures
the journalists in its custody.
