A journalist who sought to expose the plight of civilians living inside Syria has been murdered by Isis, according to local reports.
According to The Independent, the death of Ruqia Hassan has been confirmed by the group Raqqa Is Bring Slaughtered Silently which exposes human rights abuses in Syria.
She had regularly posted updates about life in the Isis capital of Raqqa, but stopped posting on social media in July last year.
Arab news channel Al-Aan TV reports that Isis informed Hassan’s family of her execution three days ago, on charges of “espionage”.
Related
In December it was reported that a film director working for RBSS called Naji Jerf had been killed by an assassin with a silenced pistol in Gaziantep, Turkey.
In October, Press Gazette spoke to the founder an editor of underground Syrian Newspaper Enam Baladi (Grapes of My Country).
Kholoud Waleed said that three of the newspaper’s journalists have been killed and that other staffers have been detained by the Syrian regime.
Content from our partners
Asked where threats to journalists come from, Waleed said: “Everyone. We receive threats from the government and from the extremists. When we first started it was the security threat from the regime. They detained some of our colleagues and three of our colleagues were killed by the regime’s shelling.
“Sometimes we receive threats from the extremists because we are writing against them and they prevent the newspaper being distributed in areas which they control."
Picture: Facebook.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
