UNESCO awarded this year’s Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Prize to Mazen Darwish, a Syrian journalist and activist imprisoned since 2012, for his more than ten years of work as president of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression.

His wife, Yara Bader, accepted the prize on his behalf at a ceremony that UNESCO organized in Riga on 3 May to mark World Press Freedom Day.

From May2-4, UNESCO, jointly with the Latvian government, held a series of events in Riga to commemorate World Press Freedom Day and held an international conference entitled “Let Journalism Thrive! Towards Better Reporting, Gender Equality, & Media Safety in the Digital Age”.

An independent International Jury of media professionals recommended Mazen Darwish in recognition of the work that he has carried out in Syria for more than ten years at great personal sacrifice, enduring a travel ban, harassment, as well as repeated detention and torture.

Darwish, a lawyer and press freedom advocate, is the president of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (CMFE), founded in 2004, and one of the founders of the Voice newspaper and syriaview.net, an independent news site, which has been banned by the Syrian authorities. In 2011, Darwish established Media Club, the first Syrian magazine about media affairs. 

Hetq spoke with Ms. Bader regarding the problems faced by journalists in Syria, the civil war there, and the plight of Syrian-Armenians.

What are the charges against Mazen Darwish?

Mazen Darwish is someone who worked many years for defending journalists who were jailed, and we think that arresting him in 2012 was a strong message along the lines of, “We don’t want this rational voice”. This was a censorship. And the charge against him is the propagandizing of terrorism.

This is how the authorities [Syrian] consider or call what a journalist is doing. But one of the basic points is the entire law on which he is charged was established after his arrest and that law is working retroactively. This is incorrect in the context of international humanitarian law. This is exceptional even for Syrian law. The trial was postponed 22 times, but the decision was made finally.

How many years was his sentence?

3 years.

So, will he be released soon?

We hope so.

What are the main problems faced by the media in Syria? What are the differences in the work of media before the war and after?

Before the war the media was totally controlled by Syrian authorities. Before 2011, before the war, a new media law emerged which was supposed to give to journalists access to information. There were five points in this law which restricted the access to any information relating to the government, government officials, institutions etc. For example, journalists were not allowed to ask how much the government was paying for electricity. No journalist in Syria can say that they have access to information. Now this limitation is justified because of the war.

The national interest and security now is the priority of everything. I think that 2011-2012 was the golden age for the Syrian media. Lots of civilians started to print magazines, radios, internet magazines, radio on the internet. All topics were discussed in the media of that time, but later it became more militarized and this was reflected in the media. Many outlets changed their names.  New military magazines emerged like “Our Syria”.  In 2014, the Islamic State created its own electronic magazine which is a complete disaster; propaganda for jihadist-Islamic groups.

How difficult is it for journalists to work in the conditions of war?

All parties in Syria have a non- written agreement that the first ones to be attacked are journalists and human rights defenders. Everywhere, the Syrian authorities, the army, the Islamic groups, all of them first attack journalists, human rights defenders or civil activists. I’m personally very confused why the international community doesn’t intervene when all these journalists are being killed.  They waited until we lost James Foley, the American journalist. It doesn’t matter they agree with Syrian government or not, they must interfere. This intervention can be different: diplomatic, political or other kind.

During this conference many speakers talked about the safety of journalists in Syria. It’s strange to speak about the safety of journalists or one group of people when the whole country is at war, isn’t it? 

It’s not a question for people in Gaza, in Syria or in Ukraine. This question should be addressed to the international community which has to take a decision to stop the war.

Let me ask a question about the Armenian community in Syria.  Maybe you are aware that many Armenians escaped the Genocide and found shelter in Syria. There was a big Armenian community in Syria mainly concentrated in Aleppo and Kessab. Now, the Syrian war has been disastrous for them, because they are exposed to a second genocide and have to leave their homes once again. There is no critical discussion in Armenia about the negative sides of Assad’s regime because many Syrian-Armenians think that only the Syrian army can defend them from ISIS. Do you agree?

I completely understand Armenians. What was done for them in Syria after the Genocide in Ottoman Turkey was the least we could do. There is a brotherhood between us. But I don’t think that Islamic military groups are attacking Armenians because they are Armenians.

What is happening in Syria is completely different from what happened in Turkey in 1915. ISIS is attacking or killing everyone who is different from them. That’s very political. The international community should stop the humanitarian crisis in Syria because all minorities have concerns. This is a real humanitarian crisis because there are ten million refugees, internal and external, almost 1 million killed, and a half million in detention by different groups.

I completely respect the worries of the Armenians, I’m very sorry as Syrian, and I believe they are Syrians like me.  We are all paying the price of the war, but I hope the guilty will be in court one day and Syrian society will be able to overcome this together.

What is your hope regarding the outcome of the war? Do you have some expectations from the international community, or should the Syrian people only rely on themselves?

The Syrian people were doing everything on their own to liberate the country. But after 2013 it became international crisis because there are many players in the Syrian crisis. I believe that if the international community decides that it’s enough they can stop it. They know how to stop it and they should have done so before.

Photo: Andrejs Terentjevs