Kinan Waqf Launch: “Skin is Good” for Syrian Journalists?

“One day after publishing the article, I went to the criminal court to complain about my involvement with Iyad Khalil, the director of the Samarian project, affiliated with businessman Mazen Hammad. They posted me on Facebook accusing me of corruption and taking a bribe, so I went to the Criminal Security Section to file a case against him for defamation. While I was on the air, the lawyer and agent of Mazen Hammad (a businessman – Tartous) came in, and they arrested me because they also claim against me ”. This is what the Syrian newspaper Al-Wehdah Kanan Waqaf journalist told Al-Akhbar about what happened to him recently, after he published an investigative report. On September 1, under the title “The Unit Opens the Tartous Electricity File … Photoelectric Stations, Corruption is Described and an invention called Electricity”, in which he dealt with the files of the Ministry of Electricity and its deficiencies. Earlier, Waqf had also published an investigation into the new photovoltaic projects, accusing businessman Mazen Hammad and a woman named Latifa and his partner of theft by taking double the amounts owed.

After two days of the last investigation, that is, the third of this month, Kinan was arrested. As a result, a wave of solidarity with him broke out and escalated to draw official attention to his cause. However, what seemed surprising was that his newspaper and the Tartous governorate police command issued a statement in which they stated that the journalist “was arrested for driving a smuggling car and failing to perform military service.” that his family responded by publishing a photo of their son’s service book, explaining that he was alone and exempt from service. The Tartous police chief, the next day, to record a public apology from the Waqf, and so did his newspaper, which “apologized under pressure from the Ministry of Information,” according to him. The newspaper tried to justify what it accused its employee of saying, “It was caused by an error due to the similarity of names between a detainee named Khalil Waqf and the journalist Kinan Waqf.”
Kinan was released two days after his arrest, under pressure from the wave of solidarity with him. Speaking to Al-Akhbar, Waqaf relegates the newspaper where he works from responsibility for the error contained in his accusation, holding the police command fully responsible, saying: “I reserve the right to sue the Tartous Police Chief for the accusations shameful and defective that he did to me (…) I will continue with the matter and I will not give up my right, as well as to the executive director of the project for defaming me ”. On the other hand, the businessman, Mazen Hammad, considers in a statement to Al-Akhbar that “I had the right to go to court because I was subjected to injustice, abuse and defamation”, and that “what the journalist published about me and the solar energy file is wrong, and the problem was mainly that he shared it on social networks, they defamed and insulted me through his comments “, adding that” he abandoned his personal right without being subjected to any pressure. Hammad believes that Waqf “took advantage of the critical circumstances of the Tartous Chamber of Commerce and Industry elections, prompted by the competing list, and tried to threaten and blackmail me.” And this is what Kanan rejects, considering that “Hammad did not renounce his right, he was forced to do so under pressure and not tolerance as he says”, adding: “If he is able to show that I threatened or blackmailed him, let him present evidence and I will go and hand myself over to the judiciary. “

The Journalists Union was accused of distancing itself from the problems of people in this profession

The Minister of Information, Imad Sarah, intervened after the escalation of the wave of solidarity with the Waqf in the Ministries of Interior and Justice, to release him immediately, which is what Sarah indicated hours before the liberation of Kinan. In an interview with Al-Akhbar, the Minister of Information said: “It is my duty to directly know the case of any employee. We arrived at the beginning that the journalist’s arrest was for non-journalistic reasons, because in the event that the work was a serious crime, the ministry did not intervene, but after following up we later learned that the arrest was due to a media article, We immediately contacted the Minister of the Interior and Justice to coordinate. Sarah notes that “the error occurred by dealing with public law without paying attention to the existence of a special law, which is the Media Law”, explaining that “the private media law is stronger than the public law, if it is that exists. Here neither the ministry nor the journalists’ union were informed, so we and the union made a joint emergency. Journalists to Free Kinan Waqf ». It states “absolutely refusing to arrest any journalist, since the law allows the second part to publish in the same area and place in which the journalist was published, which means that the law is clear, and a journalist cannot be arrested for an article you wrote “.
According to the special law for the media, a journalist is punished if he makes a mistake through his administration or the ministry, and not by arrest. However, in past years, the “Union of Journalists” was accused of distancing itself from the problems of people in this profession, before the last incident arrived and proving its effectiveness if it cooperated with the Ministry of Information. It should be noted here that the federation issued a statement confirming that “no journalist can be detained based on Law No. 108 of 2011.”
Despite all the above, the Syrian press is still not feeling well. Many journalists have already been suspended, either on their behalf or in the administration, and until what happened with the foundation becomes a “permanent rule”, what happened cannot be considered an exception to the rule of “intimidating” journalists and circumvent the laws that protect them.

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