Syria’s security forces raid journalist’s home for criticizing Assad

LONDON: Syrian journalist Kinan Waqaf posted a video on Facebook on Sunday revealing that government security forces had raided his home while he was away, pleading with his followers to take care of his children if he was arrested.

The Tartous-based journalist had criticized Syria’s President Bashar Assad a few days earlier for hosting Syrian actress Sulaf Fawakherji and her husband Wael Ramadan in the presidential palace.

While Fawakherji is known to be an Assad supporter, Waqaf’s criticism was directed at the president for meeting and taking pictures with actors while the situation in areas under his control is dire.

In the video, taken outside Waqaf’s house, the journalist explains that armed security forces had raided his house without permission or a warrant.

He added that the security forces scared his children, saying that publishing the video was his “will” and pleading for his children to be taken care of if he was arrested.

Waqaf is known for his frequent criticism of government corruption and the living conditions in government-controlled areas.

This is not the first time Waqaf has been targeted by Syria’s security and intelligence forces.

In March 2021, Waqaf was arrested while working for Al-Wahda newspaper in Tartous after publishing reports exposing corruption by government officials. A few months earlier, in September 2020, Waqaf was arrested for publishing an investigative report on his Facebook page.

According to the 2021 World Press Freedom Index, Syria was ranked 173 out of 180 countries for freedom of the press.

The annual report published by the Syrian Network for Human Rights documented the most prominent violations committed against journalists in Syria. The report indicated that 709 journalists and media workers had been killed in Syria since March 2011; 52 were tortured to death and 80 percent of deaths were committed by the Syrian regime or its allies.