New IS video shows killing of 5 media activists

AP

Beirut, 27Jun 2016: A graphic video emerged on Sunday showing the killing of five Syrian media activists captured by the Islamic State (IS) group last year.

 

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the five were abducted in October and are believed to have been killed in December over their coverage of events in the eastern Syrian city of Deir el-Zor, half of which is held by IS. The head of the Observatory , Rami Abdurrahman, said news of the detention and killing of the activists was withheld because no bodies had surfaced and the families feared retribution for reporting the deaths.

 

In the video, an IS narrator says the group is facing a media war and warns against reporting to the "crusaders" and "enemies of God." The narrator says journalists who report on IS may be targeted, even if they reside in Europe.

 

Abdurrahman said one of the activists, 28-year-old Sami Jawdat, has been feeding information to the Observatory since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011 and continued to do so after IS seized half of Deir el-Zor in 2014.

 

He said that since learning of the abduction and killing of the activists, his group has told other activists to refrain from taking photos or shooting video in IS-held areas.