A human rights organization denounces the “Self-Administration” abuses against journalists and media workers
The “Reporters without Borders” organization denounced the ongoing violations against media workers, including activists and journalists, by the “Self-Administration” forces that control the areas of northeastern Syria.
The organization called on the controlling parties to stop these violations, stressing that they must stop sacrificing media diversity.
The organization stated that a number of press workers working for media stations and networks with links to competing political parties were targeted in the past weeks by the Kurdish “self-administrations” in Syria and Iraq. The organization called on the parties in the two regions to stop committing abuses and not to confuse the media work with the political affairs.
Violations against journalists, activists and media workers are carried out by the controlling parties in those areas because of their rejection of media pluralism, as these people turn into a victim in the midst of competition between political parties, according to what was explained by the organization’s Middle East office official, Sabreen Al-Nawi, who called on the controlling parties that claims democracy to stop those abuses.
The organization pointed out that “media workers whether Syrians or Iraqis are paying the price of the political conflict.”
A security patrol of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which controls the northeast of the country, arrested about 16 journalists, including two women, on July 30, after raiding their location in the city of Raqqa, according to what was published by the “Syrian Network for Human Rights.”
The network condemned the unjustified arrest, pointing out that the forces arrested them on charge of espionage.
The network noted that there are great similarities between the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Assad regime forces, as arrests of journalists and media workers took place in their areas of control without any warrants, but rather by blocking the roads and kidnappings. The network pointed out that the Syrian Democratic Forces prevented the detainees from communicating with their families or assigning lawyers to defend them, pointing out that they have concerns of torturing them or be on the list of forcibly disappeared, as 85% cases of the total detainees.
The Syrian Democratic Forces have recently escalated their violations against media workers, in addition to forcibly recruiting the young men and women according to the “Syrian Network for Human Rights” which confirmed that these violations negatively affect media and political freedom in the region.
