Syrian journalists are celebrating being able to use their real names when it comes to reporting [Getty]
Syrian journalists around the world are dropping their pseudonyms following the toppling of Bashar al-Assad this month after rebel groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham took control of major cities in a large-scale offensive.
Journalists say they no longer fear for their personal safety, in stark comparison to reporting under Assad, who led a widespread crackdown on freedoms for over a decade.
According to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, The New Arab’s Arabic language sister publication, scores of journalists immediately started reporting with their real names and identities on 8 December.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights said around 717 journalists and media workers have been killed in Syria between March 2011 and May 2024.
The rights group added that at least 1,358 journalists and media workers have been arrested and kidnapped in the same period, while many others have been subjected to threats and harassment from security services working for the Assad regime.
Using pseudonymsÂ
The director of programmes for Halab Today, Malath Assaf, is one of the thousands of journalists who used a pseudonym up until 8 December.
Assad was using the name Mai al-Homsi previously, and told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed the main reason was “simply the ruling oppressive regime”.
“The least it can do is arrest, which can be bad because it includes many violations including torture, enforced disappearance and rape,” she explained.
She said that for women and young girls, there were a range of reasons which made them undertake extra measures to protect themselves.
“It is well known that the regime does not only target individuals but also relatives. Therefore, we could never work under our real names. Personally, I didn’t have the courage to do it” she continued.
Some journalists, despite leaving Syria, still continued to hide their identity or use a pseudonym out of fear of relatives facing torture and imprisonment.
In 2012, Assaf co-founded a newspaper in Homos, working with a journalist named Nidal Khattab, who she said was arrested at a checkpoint and executed in the field.
“For years, I hoped to see my real name published alongside my work in media, but I was forced to give this up. I now feel overwhelming happiness when I’m able to announce my real name and show my face after the fall of the regime”.
Journalists who spoke to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said that this was a “victory” and they hope the era of repression and imprisonment is over.
Another journalist, Ali al-Hussein said he was subjected to harassment and threats once his identity was revealed for posts and articles he had published online, revealing the extent of the crackdown.
“I remember I wrote two satirical articles in which I criticised the work of ministries and their policies. At the time, I was writing under the name Khalil Gibran. I had another article, but it was not published” he said.
He went on to participate in peaceful demonstrations in Damascus alongside his studies and later created a Facebook page called “Phobia Freedom” which had a number of activists, who have now been killed, writing for it.
One of them, Lawrence Raad, was arrested for his efforts in providing first aid and evacuating wounded people. He later died in one of Assad’s prisons.
“The Facebook page was discovered and the activists participating in it became known, including me. I was subjected to a lot of harassment and threats which forced me to stay at home in Douma. I ended up having to leave journalism and instead took up stone carving” he said.
Since then, he has dabbled in writing, but still receives warnings and threats, he says.
Reporting freely
Many journalists who have long hidden their identities have celebrated the fall of Assad and the ability to report freely.
One journalist, Manal al-Sahwi, penned a post on Facebook on 11 December to reveal her identity.
“For years, I wrote more than 150 articles in addition to my daily work on the Daraj website. I thought my name would be hidden forever. I worked on dozens of investigations, human rights reports, blogs and opinion articles believing the truth must be told, even if we remain in the shadows” she said.
One of the investigations she worked on was the vast drug smuggling network linked with the presidential palace in Syria and the Assad family’s involvement in the manufacture and trade of captagon.
“Today I am free and Carmen (my pseudonym) is free. I am not afraid of saying that I am Manal al-Sahwi and not Carmen Karim. I only hope that I will never return to writing under a pseudonym again”.
