20 May 19 | Index in the Press
British nationals are to be banned from entering or remaining in parts of conflict-stricken Syria in the first use of a controversial new power. The home secretary, Sajid Javid, will reveal on Monday how he expects the law, which makes it a criminal offence to enter or remain in a “designated area” overseas, to be used. Read the full article.
24 Apr 19 | Media Freedom, Middle East and North Africa, News and features, Syria
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Journalist Zouhir Al-Shimale at the 2019 Freedom of Expression Awards (Photo: Elina Kansikas for Index on Censorship)
“As a native freelance journalist, you want the story of your country to be heard and you get taken advantage of because of that,” says Zouhir al-Shimale, a Syrian photojournalist now living in the UK.
That was a lesson al-Shimale quickly learned after starting his a career as a freelance journalist when protests demanding government reforms erupted in Aleppo, Syria in 2011. It was at that time he began documenting and sharing videos and photos of the protests and the government’s crackdown, which began to receive attention from local media agencies.
One of the biggest challenges he’s faced since leaving Syria and moving — first to Turkey and then to the UK — is that he has been ignored by the same organisations that previously took his work free of charge without giving him credit.
Zouhir al-Shimale spoke to Emily Seymour, an undergraduate student of journalism at American University interning at Index on Censorship, about the situation in Syria, the London College of Communication’s Refugee Journalism Project, which supports exiled and refugee journalists to restart their careers in the UK, and his hopes to build a journalism career.
Index on Censorship: How did you first get involved in journalism?
Zouhir al-Shimale: When the revolution in Syria began in 2011, I got involved with the demonstrations and started to film them with my mobile phone. I shared them on Facebook and local news agencies, and those photos and videos spread all around the international media. In the beginning, I was only involved with demonstrations, taking photos and videos and sending them to local agencies.
Between 2012 to mid-2014 I was moving back and forth between rebel and regime areas. By that time I finished my university graduation exams and left right after I finished. Then, in late 2014, Aleppo was torn apart and I moved to a rebel part of the city to work more freely in an area where there was no Assad regime. I was working there in local news agencies and, because I speak English, I started working with freelance journalists who were planning to Syria to cover the conflict. I worked with foreign freelancers online starting in 2015 when no one could come back to Syria because the situation got critical with the rise of Assad regime intensity attacks as well as IS and radical groups. I stayed in touch with these journalists and through them got to work with the agencies themselves because I was on the ground, so I got materials for them, writing and taking photos then I started to grow my network with global agencies.
Index: How did you make the transition from graduating law school to pursuing journalism?
Al-Shimale: It was all very “go with the flow”. I graduated and then I moved to the rebel side. I can’t practice law because it’s a war zone, so what do I do? I just got involved in journalism — it just happened. I got calls about what was happening in the area and I became a reporter just because I was on the scene. In the beginning, it was all volunteer work, like you get photos and videos and share them with journalists who cover the situation because you want your voice and the situation to be heard. And then you start to build your own network, write your own materials and get credit.
Index: What prompted you to leave Syria and move to Turkey and eventually the UK?
Al-Shimale: I left Syria in January 2017 because my hometown is Aleppo and the war had become critical at the end of 2016, which ended in a six-month-long siege and then the regime took control. I was displaced with roughly 60,000 civilians from the city to north Syria. Then I moved to northern Syria to an area called Idlib, where even though it was Syria, it wasn’t home: it wasn’t my hometown and I felt like I didn’t belong — nothing felt like Aleppo. I wanted to run away because everything reminded me of my hometown where I could not return to because I was a journalist who exposed Assad’s regime war crimes in my city. It’s almost worse because though I was super close to my home, I couldn’t go back. I’m a journalist and anti-regime so if I went back to Aleppo I would have been prosecuted and imprisoned. There were also some radical groups among the rebels and if I was to carry on my work in northern Syria, it was dangerous and I could have been abducted by those factions. So I went to Turkey and lived in a city called Gaziantep, where I stayed for two years. When I went there I felt I also didn’t belong; they are very similar in culture because we’re neighbours, but because there are lots of Syrians there it didn’t feel right for me. Being in a foreign country within Syrian society, that was kind of creating mental problems because it gave me flashbacks to being back in Aleppo and I wanted to get away from that.
Index: How have your experiences as a citizen and freelance journalist in Syria shaped you as a journalist?
Al-Shimale: When I was in Syria I was an immature, freelance journalist and I was taken advantage of many times, where I wasn’t paid, my stories and my pictures were taken for a very cheap price. As a native freelance journalist, you want the story of your country to be heard, and you get taken advantage of because of that. So from when I started until now, I’ve learned how freelancers work in a war zone and how they should be paid, how they should be treated and how they should be told all of the details in advance. My role now is as the one who is the source and the agency, because I’ve got all the contacts and I’m also contacting people in Syria. Through my experience of being taken advantage of, I now teach other freelance and citizen journalists who are new to the industry and tell them how things should work. I learned not to give the agencies everything they want right away or they just will take it and not get back to you until they want another story from you.
Index: What has been most challenging about moving to and working in the UK?
Al-Shimale: It’s challenging to be involved in the industry because of the high English standards that are required by the agencies here and not many agencies are ready to embrace those citizen journalists who have really good experience, and work with them to make great journalists by working on their weaker points, like English speaking or writing. We didn’t study journalism, we just practice it. None of the agencies or channels or any media outlet that I’ve worked with before came to me when I arrived in the UK and I went to a few of them and asked if I could work with them in the office, without pay, to gain experience, and all of them either ignored or dismissed me. The same thing happened in Turkey, actually. I went to one of the TV channels that I had worked with for three years. I had done a lot of coverage of the siege of Aleppo for them, which they were very happy about, and then I told them I was ready to work in the office and learn and they just didn’t get back to me. That was the first disappointment, so I thought going to the UK would be better because all of the agencies are UK-based, but that was not the case. And that was very disappointing because I couldn’t find someone who would work with those young citizen journalists who came from a war zone to improve their skills.
Index: How have you changed since leaving Syria?
Al-Shimale: One of the things that’s changed in me as a person and as a journalist is understanding how the media can be directed towards something or to highlight one case by covering only one angle or side. I just realised for me, based on my experiences, how the media can affect political decisions and how the media and politics are linked, often making the media unethical. For example, when I was in Syria, the agencies only focused on covering specific stories and angles that were not really worth covering instead of covering what was the core of the story. I’ve learned that journalism is no different than politics, basically. No matter how ethical the media is trying to be, they can’t be separated from politics. From under the table, they go with the government and their perspective and ideology. For me, as a freelancer, it works because I get my stories commissioned and my stories heard by both sides, but what I pitch to each side must be different. I’ve learned how to work in the industry; how to fit the right story to the right platform and audience. This is a war zone and you have different competitive countries who are fighting on the Syrian soil, so a journalist’s role is to cover all sides.
Index: How has your experience been as a part of the Refugee Journalism Project?
Al-Shimale: The Refugee Journalism Project is one of the only good things that I’ve experienced so far in the UK in the media industry. I tried to get involved in an official way but it didn’t work, so this way was the first step for me to work and to get into agencies that I haven’t worked with and to meet more people. The networking aspect of this course has had a large effect on my career so far and so has the knowledge that I’ve gained through the courses they have provided.
Index: What advice do you have for other freelance journalists trying to establish themselves in the UK?
Al-Shimale: For freelance journalists, what I would say is to be more sociable, to get out of the house and go meet people. Attend events even if you have to pay for them and meet editors or anyone in the industry who could potentially help you or be a source. I would also suggest using social media as well. It is incredibly efficient and it helped me personally to get the attention of other journalists as a credible source and to contact editors and other journalists.
Index: What are your hopes for the future for Syria and for yourself?
Al-Shimale: I wish that justice can be reached in Syria one day and that the criminals will be tried in an international or Syrian court. I hope that one day I can see Syria under democratic rule and all of the humanitarian crises gone. I want to see the country get back on its feet. For myself, I want to build up a network and establish a strong journalistic career in the UK. I want to achieve one thing, which is to write stories my own way.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1556032382591-9cefa498-5109-2″ taxonomies=”213″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
23 Apr 19 | Media Freedom, Middle East and North Africa, News and features, Syria
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Turkish-backed fighters in combat during the Battle of al-Bab. Credit: Qasioun News Agency
In March, the Violation Documentation Center reported on the arrest of two journalists in Jarabulus by the local Turkish-backed security intelligence. They noted that the Turkish zone of influence has a high level of insecurity for journalists and are “closed to the media except for those licensed by Turkey, and closed to local and international human rights organisations”.
“Journalists and activists in these areas are also subjected to restrictions and abuses that amount to killing, kidnapping and torture,” they continued.
After years of bitter fighting, northern Syria has been divided between two main factions: Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, a former Al Qaeda-affiliated group based in the northwest, and Turkish backed rebel groups, in northeastern Syria. Both sides attempt to control the flow of news out of the regions by limiting access to certain areas, making threats or, in some cases, kidnapping journalists.
A photographer who works primarily in the northeast and requested anonymity told Index on Censorship that the de facto Turkish-backed rebel authorities harass journalists who are critical to the forces in control of the Euphrates shield area.
After filming in Afrin, the photographer said he had been tortured by Al-Hamzat, which runs the drug trade in the area, as well as being engaged in smuggling between Turkey and Syria.
“I was kidnapped in front of my house, pushed into a van, struck on the head and woke up handcuffed in a cell,” the activist said. He was unable to see out of one eye.
Because he was a journalist working for a foreign media outlet, the rebels interrogated him with the same brutal techniques that Bashar al-Assad regime’s intelligence service had used — something which he had experienced previously in 2012. “They threatened to murder me and my family,” he said.
During his detention, which lasted five weeks, he said that more journalists and other individuals were brought into the jail. “I could hear the voices of people being tortured, and the moaning of the prisoners,” he said.
The photographer said he was released without charge. Yet it took him two weeks to recover from the abuse he had suffered while in detention. “They told me before they let me go ‘I will break your camera’ if they see me filming again.”
Despite the treatment he received, he said that the detention had made him more determined to go to his back to his work. “Assad’s regime didn’t stop journalists — neither will the new regime,” he said.
Another journalist who requested anonymity, who moved from southern Syria to al-Bab with his family in April 2018 after being displaced, told Index on Censorship that: “Since I arrived here, life has been tough and risky.” Journalists often face trouble in the city, whether from militants or security services, who — like the local authorities — dislike critical coverage towards them or their funders.
In early February 2019, when large protests erupted in the city against the endemic corruption of the Turkish-backed authorities, journalists covering the demonstrations came under direct threat. The freelance journalist said that he had survived an assassination attempt after being threatened for his reporting of the movement.
He explained that when the anti-corruption protests broke out, “I wanted to do interviews for a news agency I work with. However, when I raised questions about Turkey’s negative impact on al-Bab with the protesters, some refused to talk, fearing persecution if they were caught talking badly about Turkey”.
As the protest was breaking up, “I was approached by an unknown person who told me ‘watch what you are doing or they’ll make you disappear’”.
The journalist said the warning made him leave the area and remove any photo credits and bylines from everything about the protests.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1556014705543-35c8d396-d90b-8″ taxonomies=”213″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
10 Apr 19 | Academic Freedom, News and features, Scholar at Risk
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”106191″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]“We in Syria were living in a big prison, without freedom, without good education, without good quality of life, without any desire of development,” says Dr. Kassem Alsayed Mahmoud, a food science and agricultural engineering researcher. “We have in Syria only five universities while we have more than 200 prisons.”
In 2009, Alsayed Mahmoud returned home to Syria after getting his masters and doctorate degree in France. He began working at Al-Furat University, where he quickly encountered the multitude of issues that academics in Syria face. In his experience as a professor and researcher in Syria, there is a serious lack of resources, experience and research freedom, in addition to issues of bureaucracy and corruption that all combine to create an environment that discourages and prevents academic freedom.
Despite his position as a professor at Al-Furat University and his age at the time, 37, he was forced into the one year of military service that is compulsory for Syrian citizens. He entered the military at the end of 2010 but was kept past his one-year mandatory service for an undetermined amount of time. By the end of 2012, Alsayed Mahmoud decided to defect from the military and leave Syria.
From there, Alsayed Mahmoud made his way to Turkey with the help of rebels, and then Qatar, where he remained for a year, before Scholars at Risk helped him obtain a research position in a lab at the Ghent University in Belgium. This position served as a starting point from which Alsayed Mahmoud then moved to a research position at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, where he worked on the valorisation of bioorganic wastes from the food industry, to see if food waste could be converted into something more useful like energy, other chemicals or materials that could be helpful in manufacturing processes.
In August 2018 Alsayed Mahmoud moved back to France because of his French refugee status, where he is still searching for a job in his field.
Although he describes the higher education system in Syria as a “tragedy” and “disaster”, he still hopes to return to Syria and pursue academic research in order to help rebuild the country.
“For me, I hope very soon to be a free human living in the free Syria,” says Alsayed Mahmoud. “I hope that one day I, and all, Syrian academics could come back home and do our research with freedom as all our colleagues in Europe and developed countries do.”
Dr. Alsayed Mahmoud spoke to Emily Seymour, an undergraduate student of journalism at American University, for Index on Censorship.
Index: What are your hopes for Syria and yourself?
Alsayed Mahmoud: To stop the war in Syria as soon as possible. We need to change the dictatorial regime and clean the country of all occupation and terrorist forces. I want to go back to Syria to continue my work at a university and participate in building our country. I hope that Syria can establish the principles of freedom; and change the constitution to guarantee that no dictator could stay in power for a long time. For me, I hope very soon to be a free human living in the free Syria.
Index: How have you changed in since leaving Syria?
Alsayed Mahmoud: Since leaving Syria seven years ago, I feel that I have been living with an artificial heart. Despite having found a safe place, the help of people and governments in Europe, I still need to breathe the air of Syria, to meet my friends and loved ones, and be proud to develop the country. Seven years is long enough to know that some people who should represent humanity are the cause of disasters because they do not care about other people or about the next generations. These are the people in power who are destroying the earth by making decisions out of only self-interest, waging wars, polluting the earth and increasing hate speech and racism.
Index: Did going to France for your education impact how you viewed Syria when you returned? If so, in what way?
Alsayed Mahmoud: We in Syria were living in a big prison, without freedom, educational opportunities or a good quality of life. There was no desire to develop the country, which has been under a dictatorial regime and one-party rule since 1970. In Syria, we have only five universities but we have more than 200 prisons. When I returned to Syria, I tried to apply what I learned in France, but unfortunately, they forced me to do the mandatory military service in December 2010, despite my professorial position at a university and my age (37 years).
Index: How did the revolution impact higher education in Syria?
Alsayed Mahmoud: Before the revolution, higher education was not in a good situation. There was a lack of materials, a lack of good academics and staff due to the fact that most got their PhDs from Russia and came back without any experience. Very few research papers from Syria were published in the international reviews. There was no academic freedom because many projects were refused by the secret service because they thought the research would interfere with the security of the country. Most university students and staff, especially males, were killed, arrested, tortured, left the country or were forced into the war. You had no choice if you stayed: kill or be killed. Three of five Syrian universities are out of service or displaced to another city. There is also a lack of academics, staff, materials and even students. There is no higher education system in Syria now. It’s a tragedy and disaster.
The revolution also started at universities, because students and researchers believed that the future of the country was in danger. We knew that the situation of higher education in Syria is the worst it’s been since 1970, but we believed that the development of any country is based on research and higher education. The situation now is the result of about 50 years of dictatorship, and the revolution was the right step to start a new life in Syria. We need only some time without any terrorism or occupation to create a free and well educated new generation to build what the terrorist occupations destroyed.
Index: What was it about your experience in the army that prompted you to defect and leave the country?
Alsayed Mahmoud: Before I was forced to do the mandatory service, I was completely against the dictatorial regime and I hoped that one day I could feel free to say and do what I want in Syria.
I suffered a lot when I was in the army, we were forced to obey the stupid orders of the officers who could humiliate you if they knew that you have already finished your PhD in Europe or in a developed country and came back to Syria. As the revolution started in March 2011, they prevented us from seeing what was going on outside the military camps, they did not give us our freedom even when we finished our one-year service and kept us for an indefinite amount of time. From the first day of the revolution, I had decided to defect, but out of fear for my family, I stayed until they were safe. I defected because I am against this dictatorial regime and the army that killed civilians and innocent children, and destroyed the country only because Syrians wanted to be free.
Index: What does your current research focus on?
Alsayed Mahmoud: I returned to France in August 2018 after three years in Belgium because I have French refugee status, but I am still looking for a job in my field. My previous research focused on the valorisation of bioorganic wastes from the food industry. The goal was to give more value to food waste by producing high valued products like lactic acid, which is often used in different domains like food and pharmacy. We developed a fermentation mechanism for lactic acid production in order to valorise potato effluents, which are generated from potato processes.
Index: How has the support of organisations like Scholars at Risk (SAR) been important in your journey as an academic?
Alsayed Mahmoud: Scholars at Risk has had a very important impact on my career. Since I left Syria, I looked for help to find a safe place to continue my work as a researcher. SAR was the most helpful organisation in my case because they could help me to find a host lab — the Laboratory of Food Technology and Engineering — with a grant at Ghent University in Belgium. This was the first step to then find another two year grant at the 3BIO lab in the Universite Libre de Bruxelles in Brussels, where I worked on the valorisation of bioorganic wastes from the food industry. SAR has always been supportive, even after I finished my first year at Ghent University.
Index: Why do you believe academic freedom is important?
Alsayed Mahmoud: Academic freedom is one of the most important pillars for the development of any country. Academics are often leaders that nurture the success of a country. If they are not free to think, criticise and research, they will not be able to help foster development.
Index: In your experience, what has been the difference between the three different academic settings that you’ve been in, in Syria, France and now Belgium?
Alsayed Mahmoud: I could not find a big difference between France and Belgium, but I believe that the academic situation in Syria is very far from being as good as in Europe. In my experience, academic freedom in Syria is one of the worst in the world. Academic freedom is a more important ideal in France and Belgium. The influence of power on the research in Europe is mostly positive and academia and governments often work together to develop the country. In Syria power is really against research and development despite paying lip service to it in the media. The freedom of research is the key to development here in Europe, while in Syria research is controlled by the regime and Assad’s secret services. Generally, there is a very big budget for research here in Europe, while in Syria we have just a drop of that budget, which is also often stolen before reaching us or used for bad purposes. The staff in Syria was mostly educated in Russia and other countries that have low education levels.
The number of universities is a sign of a healthy education system in France and Belgium, while in Syria we have only five universities but more than 200 prisons. You can generally get what you need to carry out your research in Europe without any big financial or political problems, but in Syria, researchers are very limited by materials and budgets. The freedom of mobility to any country for the purposes of attending a scientific event is not a big issue here in Europe, while as a Syrian researcher you are limited by visa and political problems. I hope that one day I, and all Syrian academics, can return home and do our research in freedom — as all our colleagues in Europe and developed countries do — and be proud to be a Syrian researcher.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_single_image image=”105189″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.scholarsatrisk.org/”][vc_column_text]This article was created in partnership with Scholars at Risk, an international network of institutions and individuals whose mission it is to protect scholars, promote academic freedom, and defend everyone’s right to think, question, and share ideas freely and safely. By arranging temporary academic positions at member universities and colleges, Scholars at Risk offers safety to scholars facing grave threats, so scholars’ ideas are not lost and they can keep working until conditions improve and they are able to return to their home countries. Scholars at Risk also provides advisory services for scholars and hosts, campaigns for scholars who are imprisoned or silenced in their home countries, monitoring of attacks on higher education communities worldwide, and leadership in deploying new tools and strategies for promoting academic freedom and improving respect for university values everywhere.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1554827510836-1e64b768-ccba-7″ taxonomies=”8843″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
