Masked assailants attack a journalist and a lawyer in Russia’s Chechnya province

In this handout photo released by Novaya Gazeta Europe via web site Novayagazeta.eu on Tuesday, July 4, 2023, Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina sitts after giving her a medical treatment in Grozny, Russia. (AP)
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Updated 05 July 2023
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Masked assailants attack a journalist and a lawyer in Russia’s Chechnya province

  • Nemov said the attackers threatened to kill him and told him to plead for mercy as they put a pistol to his head

MOSCOW: Masked assailants in the Russian province of Chechnya attacked and brutally beat a prominent investigative reporter and a lawyer Tuesday, an assault that highlighted a violent pattern of rampant human rights abuses in the region.
Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov were attacked soon after they arrived in Chechnya to attend the trial of Zarema Musayeva, the mother of two local activists who have challenged Chechen authorities.
Just outside the airport, their vehicle was blocked by several cars and they were attacked by a dozen unidentified masked attackers who beat them with clubs, put guns to their heads and broke their equipment.
Novaya Gazeta said Milashina sustained a concussion and had several fingers broken, but medics later determined her fingers weren’t fractured. Nemov had a deep cut on his leg. They were taken to a hospital in Chechnya’s main city, Grozny, and later to Beslan in the nearby region of North Ossetia. The newspaper said Milashina repeatedly lost consciousness.
Speaking from a hospital bed in a video, Milashina said the attack looked like a “classic abduction.”
“They threw the driver out of the car, got in, bent our heads down, tied my hands, forced me down to my knees and put a gun to my head,” she said, adding that the assailants were visibly nervous and had trouble tying her hands.
A photo from a hospital showed her talking over the phone, her face covered by green antiseptic the attackers doused on her. She had multiple bruises on her head shaved clean by the assailants.
Officials were considering their medical evacuation to Moscow.
In a later interview with Russian rights group Team Against Torture, which works in Chechnya and other regions, Milashina recalled the assailants telling Nemov: ‘You are defending too many people here. There is no need to defend anyone here.”
Milashina said the assailants threatened to cut her fingers if she refused to give a password to unlock her phone and then beat her on her fingers with a plastic tube. “It was very painful. It felt like a burn,” she said.
The attackers grabbed their equipment but didn’t touch cash and other valuables, Milashina said.
Nemov said the attackers threatened to kill him and told him to plead for mercy as they put a pistol to his head.
Milashina said Nemov believed that they may have been shadowed since they boarded their Chechnya-bound flight in Moscow.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with reporters that Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed about the incident. Peskov added that “it was a very serious assault that warrants energetic measures” from law enforcement agencies.
Other Russian agencies, including the human rights ombudsperson, condemned the attack and called for an investigation.
Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee, the country’s top state criminal investigation agency, ordered a probe into the attack.
Chechnya’s Moscow-backed strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who branded Milashina a “terrorist” in the past, said the regional authorities had launched an investigation and would track down the attackers.
The strong statements and a quick response from Russian authorities contrasted with a muted official reaction to previous attacks on Milashina and other journalists and human rights activists in Chechnya.
Milashina has long exposed human rights violations in Chechnya and has faced threats, intimidation and attacks. In 2020, she and a lawyer accompanying her were beaten by a dozen people in the lobby of their hotel. Last year, she temporarily left Russia after she was threatened by Chechen authorities.
She has won widespread acclaim for her investigative reporting, which included exposing the torture and killings of gay people in Chechnya and other abuses by feared Chechen paramilitary forces.
In 2013, Milashina received an International Women of Courage Award from the US Department of State.
Amnesty International strongly condemned Tuesday’s attack on Milashina and Nemov and urged Russian authorities to track down the assailants. “This callous crime exemplifies the extreme dangers that those who fight injustice and defend human rights face in a context of open hostility from the authorities and total impunity for perpetrators,” Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said in a statement.
Hours after Tuesday’s attack, a court in Grozny sentenced Zarema Musayeva to 5½ years in prison on charges of insulting and violently resisting police, an accusation that rights groups have rejected as trumped up.
Despite Tuesday’s attack, Milashina vowed to travel again to Chechnya to attend Musayeva’s appeal hearing.
Musayeva had been in custody in Grozny since Chechen security forces grabbed her from her home in the Volga River city of Nizhny Novgorod and drove her to Chechnya in January 2022. Her husband, a former judge, and her two activist sons have left Chechnya. Kadyrov has accused the Musayev family of having terrorist links and said they should be imprisoned or killed if they offered resistance.
The Kremlin has relied on Kadyrov to keep the North Caucasus region stable after two devastating separatist wars. International rights groups have accused his security forces of extrajudicial killings, torture and abductions of dissenters, but Russian authorities have stonewalled repeated demands to investigate and end abuses in Chechnya.
Anna Politkovskaya, a widely acclaimed investigative Novaya Gazeta reporter who exposed human rights abuses in Chechnya, was shot dead in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building on Oct. 7, 2006. A Russian court convicted the gunman and three other Chechens involved in the killing along with a former Moscow police officer who was their accomplice, but investigators have failed to determine who ordered the killing.
On July 15, 2009, Natalia Estemirova, a leading rights defender in Chechnya and a strong critic of Kadyrov, was abducted and later found dead with shots to the head and chest. Her murder has remained unsolved.
Kadyrov’s clout has risen further since the start of Moscow’s campaign in Ukraine, where his security forces have played an active part. The Kremlin scrambled fighters from Chechnya to help protect Moscow from an abortive mutiny launched by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin 11 days ago, but some commentators warned that Kadyrov’s ambitions could also potentially pose a threat to federal authorities.
Despite the Kremlin’s support, Kadyrov reportedly has had tense relations with some of Russia’s law enforcement agencies. The angry reaction from officials and Kremlin-connected lawmakers who called for a tough response could signal authorities’ intentions to cut the Chechen strongman down to size.

 


StarzPlay partners with Falcon Films to bring over 50 exclusive titles to the platform

Updated 12 December 2024
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StarzPlay partners with Falcon Films to bring over 50 exclusive titles to the platform

  • New content will be added in 2025
  • Lineup includes ‘Weekend in Taipei,’ ‘The Surfer,’ ‘Oh, Canada’ 

DUBAI: Streaming company StarzPlay has partnered with independent movie distributor and producer Falcon Films to bring the latter’s library of films to the platform.

The partnership will see StarzPlay add more than 50 exclusive titles from Falcon Films’ roster throughout 2025. The titles will be available in all 22 Middle East markets in which StarzPlay is available.

StarzPlay CEO Maaz Sheikh said: “With this strategic partnership, Falcon Films’ movies — including blockbuster hits and upcoming releases — will join our library, reinforcing StarzPlay’s status as the go-to platform for premium content in the region.

“With over 3 million subscribers across 22 countries, and through collaborations like this, we are expanding our portfolio of exclusive offerings, while simultaneously strengthening the local entertainment system to meet the evolving demands of our audience.”

The lineup includes films like “Weekend in Taipei,” “The Surfer,” “Oh, Canada,” starring Richard Gere, and “Monster Summer,” with Mel Gibson.


Media watchdogs call on new Syrian authorities to safeguard journalists

Updated 12 December 2024
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Media watchdogs call on new Syrian authorities to safeguard journalists

  • Syria ranks 179 out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index
  • Demands for perpetrators to face justice over deaths, detention of media workers

DUBAI: Media watchdogs have called on Syria’s new leaders to ensure the safety of all journalists in the country, and bring to justice those responsible for killing, imprisoning, and harassing media workers during Bashar Assad’s regime.

“While we wait for the missing to return and the imprisoned to be released, we call on the new authorities to hold the perpetrators to account for the crimes of killing, abducting, or jailing reporters,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, program director of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

CPJ is also urging the new government to allow journalists and media workers access to information and locations without the fear or risk of being detained or questioned.

Syria is among the most dangerous countries for journalists ranking in 179th place out of 180 countries in the latest World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders.

Since 2011, more than 181 journalists have been killed — 161 by regime forces and 17 by Russian airstrikes — in addition to multiple others tortured and imprisoned by the Syrian regime and its supporters, according to RSF data.

Jonathan Dagher, head of RSF’s Middle East desk, said: “We demand that Bashar Assad be prosecuted for his crimes. Justice, long overdue, must finally be served for all victims of his abuses.”

He added that RSF is also aware of crimes against journalists committed by the Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham, which has taken control in Syria, and called on the Islamist group to “hold their responsible members accountable, and to release all journalists still detained in the country, including those they have taken hostage.”

Dagher added: “Syria’s future leaders, whoever they may be, must ensure the safety of journalists and allow a free press to flourish.”

CPJ’s Global Impunity Index, which calculates the percentage of unsolved journalist murders in each country relative to its population, has seen Syria make the list for the last 11 years, including as the top offender in 2023.

Since the Assad regime’s collapse, HTS has been releasing prisoners, with RSF confirming the release of two journalists: Syria Media Monitor’s Hanin Gebran, who was detained in June 2024, and blogger Tal Al-Mallouhi, who was detained in 2009.


Award-winning Syrian filmmaker Waad Al-Kateab says ‘chapter of Assad has finished’

Updated 12 December 2024
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Award-winning Syrian filmmaker Waad Al-Kateab says ‘chapter of Assad has finished’

DUBAI: Waad Al-Kateab, activist and award-winning Syrian director of the film, “For Sama,” has spoken out since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“The past couple of days have been so emotional for me and so many other Syrians,” Al-Kateab said in an Instagram post.

She continued: “We carry a pain bigger than this world, and because of our trauma, we don’t know how to celebrate, and we cannot believe that tomorrow might really hold something better.

“Today, there’s a huge joy but it doesn’t feel real.”

Her film, “For Sama,” won several awards at the BAFTA and British Independent Film Awards and was nominated at multiple prestigious international film festivals including the Oscars.

The film documents her family life in Aleppo over five years, including her marriage and the birth of her first child, Sama, who the film is named after.

“The greatest heartbreak of my life is that I can’t take my daughters to live in or even visit the place where they should belong to; the place where they should grow up,” Al-Kateab said.

“For Sama” was a “promise to myself and my daughters that I will never forget Aleppo.”

In 2016, Al-Kateab and her husband fled to the UK.

She said: “Before we left, we said goodbye to everything. We left our hearts and moved forward, terrified that we might not even make it out.”

The collapse of Assad’s regime is a monumental event for many Syrians living abroad.

Al-Kateab has been disconnected from her family in Syria because contacting them could put them at risk, but now she looks forward to visiting her home country, she told The Times.

She said: “This was the first time I called my auntie (and) uncle. I managed to talk to my cousins, who were five or six years old when I left, and now they are teenagers.

“We are waiting to get British citizenship — without the British passport I won’t be able to travel for that.”

Looking forward, Al-Kateab added: “The chapter of Assad has finished and I don’t want anything for his system or mentality or rules to be taken with us to the next chapter.”

She called for foreign powers to leave Syria saying: “I really hope to see the minimizing of outside intervention.”

Al-Kateab also appealed to the international community to implement a no-fly zone to protect civilians.

“Everyone who has different fears agrees that the biggest risk and the threat is coming from the sky — the Syrian and Russian airstrike attacks. And for that, the international community needs to prioritize protecting civilians from such attacks,” she said on Instagram.

Al-Kateab’s other work includes “We Dare to Dream” and “Death Without Mercy”.


American prisoner found in Syria is not journalist Austin Tice

Updated 12 December 2024
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American prisoner found in Syria is not journalist Austin Tice

WASHINGTON: The American prisoner reportedly found in Az-Zyabeyeh district south of Damascus was not journalist Austin Tice, AlArabiya reported on Thursday.

There have been conflicting reports earlier on whether Tice has been found, with Syria TV citing sources the individual found in the Damascus countryside was not the missing journalist.

AlArabiya later reported that the individual was named Travis Timmerman, who illegally traveled into Syria from Lebanon seven months ago and has been held in captivity since.

A video posted on social media meanwhile showed Timmerman telling the interviewer that he went to Syria on a ‘religious pilgrimage.’

 

 

“The American who was found in Syria is not Austin Tice. He told me his name is Travis. He refused to give a last name. He said he was a “pilgrim” and that he crossed into Syria by foot before he was detained. He was held in prison for seven months and said he was well treated,” journalist Matt Bradley posted on X.

“When I asked him about the religious beliefs that compelled him to cross the mountains from Lebanon into Syria, he told me he had “been reading the scripture a lot” lately but others interrupted before he could elaborate.”

 

 

President Joe Biden said Sunday that the US government believes missing American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared 12 years ago near the Syrian capital, is alive and that Washington is committed to bringing him home after Bashar Assad’s ouster from power in Damascus.

“We think we can get him back,” Biden told reporters at the White House, while acknowledging that “we have no direct evidence” of his status. “Assad should be held accountable.”

Biden said officials must still identify exactly where Tice is after his disappearance in August 2012 at a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus.

“We’ve remained committed to returning him to his family,” he said.

Tice, who is from Houston and whose work had been published by The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and other outlets.

A video released weeks after Tice went missing showed him blindfolded and held by armed men and saying, “Oh, Jesus.” He has not been heard from since. Syria has publicly denied that it was holding him.

The United States has no new evidence that Tice is alive, but continues to operate under the assumption he is alive, according to a US official. The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the US will continue to work to identify where he is and to try to bring him home.

His mother, Debra, said at a news conference Friday in Washington that the family had information from a “significant source,” whom she did not identify, establishing that her son was alive.

“He is being cared for and he is well — we do know that,” she said.

The Tice family met this past week with officials at the State Department and the White House.

“To everyone in Syria that hears this, please remind people that we’re waiting for Austin,” Debra Tice said in comments that hostage advocacy groups spread on social media Sunday. “We know that when he comes out, he’s going to be fairly dazed & he’s going to need lots of care & direction. Direct him to his family please!”


NEOM Media, Hakawati Entertainment sign deal to make 9 feature films

Updated 10 December 2024
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NEOM Media, Hakawati Entertainment sign deal to make 9 feature films

  • Partnership ‘an important milestone’ for Saudi media industry, NEOM executive says
  • Agreement will also include initiatives to support development of local talent

RIYADH: NEOM Media and Hakawati Entertainment have announced a strategic partnership to produce up to nine feature films and establish a production services division in NEOM, further accelerating the growth of Saudi Arabia’s film industry.

The partnership with Hakawati, a leading Saudi-based film, TV and literary management company, will localize screen production activities across future NEOM productions, according to a statement.

By using NEOM Media’s infrastructure, including high-end soundstages, diverse shooting locations and extensive production support, the collaboration will enable high-quality content creation, it said.

Two of the nine films are set to go into production in the first half of next year and further projects are under review.

Hakawati plans to establish an operational presence within NEOM’s media hub by creating a production services division designed to meet the needs of international, regional and local productions. This will be supported by Hollywood-level talent and significant financial investments.

The partnership will also help the sector’s evolution into a creative industries hub, while streamlining project execution and elevating filmmaking standards.

Michael Lynch, sector head of entertainment, culture and media at NEOM, said: “This partnership with Hakawati marks an important milestone in our shared commitment to advancing Saudi Arabia’s media industry … (and) reinforces our position as a center for innovation and growth, reflecting the industry’s confidence in our vision.

“Together, we are poised to unlock significant opportunities, drive the Kingdom’s creative ambitions forward and establish a world-class media ecosystem.”

Hakawati CEO Osama Al-Khurayji said: “While film and television production remain at the heart of our business, this partnership goes beyond content creation. Together with NEOM, we are committed to building a sustainable, world-class filmmaking ecosystem that will not only support our industry’s expansion but also contribute to Saudi Arabia’s ambitious vision of becoming a global leader in entertainment and media.”

The partnership will also focus on developing Saudi talent through multidisciplinary programs and workshops that provide intensive training, shadowing opportunities and job placements for the local and international media markets.

A Hakawati community will be established at NEOM in early 2025, in collaboration with NEOM Media’s industry learning department, to support talent development.

Also, a working group will identify and implement at least three new training programs by the end of 2025, ensuring ongoing opportunities for Saudi creatives.