Mohamed Quratem

Enab Baladi

November 28, 2012, in Darya, Syria

Quratem, a reporter for the pro-opposition weekly Enab Baladi (The Grapes of My Country), was killed in government shelling of the Damascus suburb of Darya on November 28, according to his employer and the pan-Arab news channel Al-Arabiya. Quratem and two local activists, Marwan Shurbaji and Abd al-Rahim Shurbaji, died when a mortar shell fell on the building in which he was working, Eiad Shurbaji, a relative of the killed activists and an exiled Syrian journalist, told CPJ. The three bodies were not discovered until November 30 because of continuous shelling and the large amount of rubble, Shurbaji said.

Quratem was a founding member of Enab Baladi, which began publishing in January 2012 with a focus on the country's civil war. Darya had been under heavy government bombardment since early November 2012, according to news reports. Most people fled when the government offensive began, but Quratem stayed behind to document the siege and work with local and international media outlets to get news out of the city, Enab Baladi reported.

Medium: Print

Job: Print Reporter

Beats Covered: War

Gender: Male

Local or Foreign: Local

Freelance: No

Type of Death: Crossfire/Combat-Related

Suspected Source of Fire: Military Officials

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