Syria: RSF calls on authorities in al-Bab to release journalist Bakr al-Qassem
On 26 August, freelance journalists Bakr al-Qassem and Nabiha Taha were arrested on their way home from reporting in northwest Syria. While Taha has been released, al-Qassem, a regular contributor to Agence France-Presse (AFP) and the Turkish news agency Anadolu, remains detained. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the immediate release of this journalist, who has been denied access to a lawyer and visitors.
Bakr al-Qassem, 29 years old, and his wife Nabiha Taha, 25 years old were driving home after reporting on an industrial exhibition in the town of al-Bab, 30 km from Aleppo. "Several policemen and cars were waiting for us near the Aleppo roundabout,” Taha told RSF. “I heard them say 'it's him' and they stopped us. They separated me from Bakr, put me in one car, him in another. Since then, I haven't heard from him,” said the freelance journalist, who works for the online news site Halab Today TV.
Nabiha Taha was taken to a police station in al-Bab, where she was questioned without being given the reason for her or her husband's arrest. "They released me two hours later," she recounts, "but refused to tell me what the accusations or charges were against me or Bakr. Once home, the journalist realized their house had been searched and that documents, equipment, and personal belongings had been seized. Al-Qassem was taken to a detention center in Hawar Kilis, 50 kilometers north of al-Bab, and deprived of a lawyer and visitors, according to RSF’s information.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), al-Qassem and Taha were arrested by Turkish intelligence services and military police. The head of the Syrian interim government that administers these regions, Abdurrahman Mustafa, denied any knowledge of the journalist's arrest when questioned by AFP.
"RSF condemns the arbitrary detention of freelance journalists Bakr al-Qassem and Nabiha Taha by local authorities in the town of al-Bab. While Nabiha Taha was released yesterday, Baqr al-Qassem is still locked up, according to our information. We call on the local authorities and all parties involved in his arrest to release him immediately and return the confiscated equipment. The harassment of journalists in Syria must stop. It is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for media workers, ranking 179th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2024 World Press Freedom Index."
As a contributor to both the Turkish news agency Anadolu as well as the French news agency AFP, al-Qassem posesses valid press passes for both of these international media. A journalist for over 10 years, he has covered many episodes of the war in Syria, according to AFP. He also reported on the deadly earthquake of February 2023, in which he lost 17 members of his family.
Since the Syrian revolution and subsequent war, northwestern Syria has been under the control of Turkish-backed rebel factions known as the Free Syrian Army, united by Ankara as the Syrian National Army in 2017.
