The Syrian Journalists Union announced the launch of the first report of its kind to monitor the state of media freedoms in Syria. Which, “SANA” said, includes recorded violations against media organizations and media professionals, and proposals on the legislative environment for journalistic work and the laws against cybercrime and the media.
SANA clarified that the first part of the report was allocated by the union to cases of violations recorded against media professionals in Syria.
According to the report launched by the Union from the Al-Wahda Foundation for Printing, Publishing and Distribution in Damascus, the number of such cases reached 61 during the past year, and that “most of them took place in the areas of the presence of the American and Turkish occupations, militias and terrorist groups supported by them, such as the “SDF” and “Jabhat al-Nusra”, as well as the violations practiced by the Israeli occupation.”
SANA quoted the Vice-President of the Union of Journalists, Raeda Waqf, as saying that there are cases of journalists being arrested by judicial authorities for reasons not related to media work against the background of electronic or information crimes, in addition to cases of defamation and transfer from workplaces, suspension of writing and intimidation after tracking cases of corruption.
Waqaf indicated that the report also focused on the impact of the coercive measures imposed on Syria on press institutions that are no longer able to purchase media equipment and other supplies necessary for work.
Regarding the legislative environment related to media work, SANA quoted the head of the Syrian Journalists Union, Moussa Abdel Nour, as stressing the need not to restrict media freedom, which is protected by the constitution. He also referred to the role of the Ministry of Information in ensuring the media’s right to obtain the information they need.
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