Forwarded from Syria Justice Archive
#SouthernSyria | #Damascus: A journalist arrested over a WhatsApp message, and a radio station’s office shut down at the agriculture minister’s request
Journalist “Hamza al-Abbas” was arrested this morning, August 3, 2026, after sending a message to a WhatsApp group describing the injustice done to him and his colleagues.
Details: About nine months ago, “Sawt al-Sham Radio” rented a house in the Mazzeh Western Villas neighborhood to serve as its headquarters. The so-called “Illicit Gains Commission” then seized a house on the floor below the station’s offices, and the head of that commission, who is also STG’s Agriculture Minister Basel Sweidan, moved into the seized house. He then sent his men to demand that “Sawt al-Sham Radio” shut down its office and vacate the building for “security reasons.”
After Hamza al-Abbas, a member of the radio’s staff, wrote about the injustice done to them in a WhatsApp group with various media figures, he was arrested immediately.
It’s worth noting that the so-called “Illicit Gains Commission” carries out its own illicit seizures by confiscating the property of businessmen, even those with no ties to the former regime. Its most recent operation involved seizing at least ten pharmaceutical factories across Syria, including “Hama Pharma.” About a month ago, after that factory’s director posted on Facebook that his plant had been seized and that he was disclaiming responsibility for any medications produced from then on, he too was arrested, and his Facebook page was shut down.
Journalist “Hamza al-Abbas” was arrested this morning, August 3, 2026, after sending a message to a WhatsApp group describing the injustice done to him and his colleagues.
Details: About nine months ago, “Sawt al-Sham Radio” rented a house in the Mazzeh Western Villas neighborhood to serve as its headquarters. The so-called “Illicit Gains Commission” then seized a house on the floor below the station’s offices, and the head of that commission, who is also STG’s Agriculture Minister Basel Sweidan, moved into the seized house. He then sent his men to demand that “Sawt al-Sham Radio” shut down its office and vacate the building for “security reasons.”
After Hamza al-Abbas, a member of the radio’s staff, wrote about the injustice done to them in a WhatsApp group with various media figures, he was arrested immediately.
It’s worth noting that the so-called “Illicit Gains Commission” carries out its own illicit seizures by confiscating the property of businessmen, even those with no ties to the former regime. Its most recent operation involved seizing at least ten pharmaceutical factories across Syria, including “Hama Pharma.” About a month ago, after that factory’s director posted on Facebook that his plant had been seized and that he was disclaiming responsibility for any medications produced from then on, he too was arrested, and his Facebook page was shut down.