Published : 31-12-2021
AGPS condemns the apathy maintained by the international community and Palestinian leadership as regards the extrajudicial killing, harsh torture, and arbitrary detention of Palestinian journalists and activists in war-ravaged Syria.
AGPS stresses the important role that the media has in society. AGPS reiterates that journalists must be allowed to carry out their work freely, while realizing their right to free expression, as enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Furthermore, at times of armed conflict, journalists are considered civilians and must therefore be granted due protection, as stated in Article 79 of Additional Protocol I (1977) to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which represents customary international humanitarian law.
Monitoring and documentation indicate that the warring parties in Syria systematically target Palestinian journalists. This targeting has escalated with the active involvement of journalists in covering anti-regime protests. Violations against journalists take many forms, including denial of access to locations of incidents, destruction of equipment, arbitrary arrest, physical assault, and use of firearms that lead to injury or death.
AGPS has recorded the death of 18 Palestinian journalists in Syria and the secret detention of dozens more since the outburst of deadly hostilities in March 2011, among whom academics and volunteers.
The causalities died while covering scenes on the battleground or while providing civilians with relief assistance across the ravaged Syrian territories.
The list includes nine journalists who died under shelling, five who were tortured to death, and four others who were fatally shot.
The casualties are photojournalists and activists Fady Abu Ajaj, Jamal Khalifa, Ahmad AlSahli, Bassam Hamidi, Ahmad Taha, and Bilal Sa’id. They were killed in onslaughts targeting Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian refugees.
Photojournalist Jehad Shehabi died in an air strike on Hjeira town, south of Damascus, while activist Yamen Dhaher was killed in a raid on Khan Eshieh Camp. News correspondent Tareq Ziad Khader was pronounced dead in Daraa Camp, south of Syria.
Yarmouk residents Niraz Sa’id, Khaled Bakrawi, Hassan Hassan, and Alaa Naji, along with Bilal Ahmad, from Muadhamiyat AlSham, were tortured to death in Syrian government prisons.
Iyas Farhat was the first journalist to be killed in Yarmouk as he covered a rally protesting the murder of 14 members of the Palestine Liberation Army in the bloody warfare north of Syria.
Ghassan Shehabi, director of AlShajara Center to document Palestinian heritage, along with activists Ahmad Kousa and Mounir AlKhatib were gunned down by a government sniper in Yarmouk Camp.
Scores of activists, journalists, and correspondents have, meanwhile, been locked up in Syrian government dungeons for years. The list includes Muhannad Omar, Ali Shehabi, Rami Hajou, Ali Musleh, and Ahmad Jalil.
Facts on the ground prove that the number of casualties is much higher. Difficulties in documentation stem from the absence of official statistics, lack of concern as regards the number of Palestinian casualties, journalists in particular, the intricacy of the name-identification process, and the families’ reluctance to reveal the victims’ names for fear of retaliation.
AGPS condemns the apathy maintained by the international community and Palestinian leadership as regards the extrajudicial killing, harsh torture, and arbitrary detention of Palestinian journalists and activists in war-ravaged Syria.
AGPS stresses the important role that the media has in society. AGPS reiterates that journalists must be allowed to carry out their work freely, while realizing their right to free expression, as enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Furthermore, at times of armed conflict, journalists are considered civilians and must therefore be granted due protection, as stated in Article 79 of Additional Protocol I (1977) to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which represents customary international humanitarian law.
Monitoring and documentation indicate that the warring parties in Syria systematically target Palestinian journalists. This targeting has escalated with the active involvement of journalists in covering anti-regime protests. Violations against journalists take many forms, including denial of access to locations of incidents, destruction of equipment, arbitrary arrest, physical assault, and use of firearms that lead to injury or death.
AGPS has recorded the death of 18 Palestinian journalists in Syria and the secret detention of dozens more since the outburst of deadly hostilities in March 2011, among whom academics and volunteers.
The causalities died while covering scenes on the battleground or while providing civilians with relief assistance across the ravaged Syrian territories.
The list includes nine journalists who died under shelling, five who were tortured to death, and four others who were fatally shot.
The casualties are photojournalists and activists Fady Abu Ajaj, Jamal Khalifa, Ahmad AlSahli, Bassam Hamidi, Ahmad Taha, and Bilal Sa’id. They were killed in onslaughts targeting Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian refugees.
Photojournalist Jehad Shehabi died in an air strike on Hjeira town, south of Damascus, while activist Yamen Dhaher was killed in a raid on Khan Eshieh Camp. News correspondent Tareq Ziad Khader was pronounced dead in Daraa Camp, south of Syria.
Yarmouk residents Niraz Sa’id, Khaled Bakrawi, Hassan Hassan, and Alaa Naji, along with Bilal Ahmad, from Muadhamiyat AlSham, were tortured to death in Syrian government prisons.
Iyas Farhat was the first journalist to be killed in Yarmouk as he covered a rally protesting the murder of 14 members of the Palestine Liberation Army in the bloody warfare north of Syria.
Ghassan Shehabi, director of AlShajara Center to document Palestinian heritage, along with activists Ahmad Kousa and Mounir AlKhatib were gunned down by a government sniper in Yarmouk Camp.
Scores of activists, journalists, and correspondents have, meanwhile, been locked up in Syrian government dungeons for years. The list includes Muhannad Omar, Ali Shehabi, Rami Hajou, Ali Musleh, and Ahmad Jalil.
Facts on the ground prove that the number of casualties is much higher. Difficulties in documentation stem from the absence of official statistics, lack of concern as regards the number of Palestinian casualties, journalists in particular, the intricacy of the name-identification process, and the families’ reluctance to reveal the victims’ names for fear of retaliation.
