CPJ calls on new Syrian leaders to protect journalists, hold Assad’s media persecutors to account

As Syria transitions to a new government following the December 8 toppling of Bashar al-Assad, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities to take decisive action to ensure the safety of all journalists and hold accountable those responsible for the killing, imprisonment, and silencing of members of the media during the country’s 13-year civil war.

“Scenes of journalists rushing to cover Syria’s post-Assad regime raise hope for the start of a new chapter for the country’s media workers,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna. “While we wait for the missing to return and the imprisoned to be released, we call on the new authorities to hold the perpetrators to account for the crimes of killing, abducting, or jailing reporters.”

CPJ is also urging Syria’s new leaders to allow journalists and media workers safe access to information and locations to cover events. Syria has long been one of the world’s deadliest and riskiest areas for journalists, with CPJ documenting 141 journalists killed there between 2011 and 2024.

At least five journalists were imprisoned in Syria at the time of CPJ’s 2023 prison census. One of them, Tal al-Mallohi, a blogger detained since 2009, was released after the ousting of Assad. The fate of other prisoners, including U.S. journalist Austin Tice – abducted in Syria in mid-August 2012 – remains unknown.

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