The journalists disappeared after government troops captured Raqqa from Kurdish-led forces [Getty]
Concern is growing over the fate of two journalists who went missing in the Syrian city of Raqqa on January 18, the day it was captured by Syrian government troops from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
German journalist Eva Maria Michelmann and Kurdish-Turkish journalist Ahmed Polad went missing while covering developments on the ground. They were working for the po-Kurdish Turkish socialist Etkin News Agency (ETHA) and Ozgur TV.
On Wednesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on Syrian authorities to disclose their whereabouts.
It said that they were last seen fleeing a government building affiliated with Raqqa’s former Kurdish-led authorities with civilians from the city, but were separated from the crowd by government forces and placed in a vehicle.
“The disappearance of Eva Maria Michelmann and Ahmed Polad in Raqqa raises serious concerns about the safety of journalists working in Syria,” Joud Hasan, CPJ’s Levant Programme Coordinator, said.
“Syrian authorities must urgently shed light on what has happened to the journalists, including whether they have been detained, and guarantee their safety,” Hasan added.
However, a source in the Syrian Ministry of Information told The New Arab on Friday that the ministry has been following the case and trying to determine the journalists’ location since it learned of their disappearance two days ago, but has so far obtained no information about them.
The source added that the ministry continues to search for any clues that could lead to information about the journalists’ fate.
Serpil Arslan, the editor-in-chief of Ozgur TV, said that Polad had gone to Raqqa to cover clashes between the SDF and the Syrian government but went missing as the SDF withdrew from the city.
“He attempted to go live, but as the clashes intensified this was not possible. Instead, he sent us video footage,” Arslan said.
He added that Polad said a few hours later that the building he was in with other civilians had been surrounded by government forces and cut off.
Eva Maria Michelmann’s brother Toni said that she had been detained by Syrian government forces and that “there has been no sign of life from her.
Arzu Demir, another journalist who works for ETHA and Ozgur TV said that Michelmann had been filing news from Kurdish-held areas of northeastern Syria for four years but her reports were published anonymously for “security reasons.”
“There is a witness statement claiming they were separated from the other people who were under siege in Raqqa and placed into another vehicle,” she added.
