TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Syria: Raqqa Syrian Journalists Killed

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Syria: Raqqa Syrian Journalists Killed

I have been following news about the RBSS (Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently), a citizen's group that has been reporting on life in ISIL-occupied Raqqa, Syria. RBSS is just about the only source for reliable news in the area. For instance RBSS reported about the failed US Special Forces raid to save American journalist James Foley and other hostages; RBSS also covered news about the Jordanian pilot who was burned to death by ISIL.

In retaliation, ISIL has been liquidating RBSS members, calling them spies. A month after RBSS began their work, Al-Moutaz Bellah Ibrahim was kidnapped and killed by ISIL. On October 30, 2015, Ibrahim Abdul Kader and his friend Fares Hammadi were stabbed and beheaded in Urfa, Turkey. On December 16, 2015, Ahmad Mohammed Al Mousa was murdered in Idlib, Syria.

On December 27, 2015, Syrian documentary filmmaker Naji Jerf was assassinated in Turkey, ironically just the day before he was scheduled to leave for Paris. Not too long afterwards, five men were murdered by ISIL for running internet cafes and sending pictures of Raqqa to Turkey.

Still another RBSS casualty was Ruqia Hassan (pen name Nissan Ibrahim), a 30-year-old woman, who vanished last July and was confirmed murdered by ISIL just recently.

Hassan's death has been particularly disturbing to me perhaps because she was a woman writer, as I am. But while I enjoy the freedom of being able to write as I please, she did not.

It saddens me to think of her and others who are getting killed, not for dropping bombs, but for trying to document what is going on around them.

For their work, RBSS was awarded the International Press Freedom Award in 2015 from the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The citation said, "While RBSS was formed to document the atrocities of (ISIL), its memers have also reported critically on the Assad government's bombings, other rebel forces, and civilian casualties caused by U.S.-led airstrikes."

The award is a small gesture to show gratitude to these courageous people whose work is invaluable.

Read also
Writers and the War in Syria
Children and the War in Syria
Syrian Revolutionary Poem & Destruction of Khalid bin Walid Mosque

Tags: RBSS, Raqqa, Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, journalists, #Syria, Syrian, ISIL, writers, war, Middle East

This is all for now,
Cecilia

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books.. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized. Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.