IPI today expressed alarm at suggestions that Turkish journalists Adem Özköse and Hamit Coşkun have been in the custody of Syrian authorities since March 10, and that at least one of them, according to news reports, may have been tortured.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan yesterday said that Syria was holding the journalists prisoner and must “answer for this”, according to news reports.

“We are deeply alarmed at suggestions that Adem Özköse and Hamit Coşkun appear to be in the custody of the Syrian government, and that at least one of the two journalists may have been tortured,” said IPI Acting Deputy Director Anthony Mills. “If the two journalists are in fact in the hands of the authorities then they must be released immediately, along with all of the other Syrian reporters who have been detained. Furthermore, those responsible for maltreatment in any form must be held accountable.”

Syria continues to be one of the most dangerous places in the world for the journalists and citizen reporters seeking to gather and transmit information.

One citizen reporter was arrested this week, and another activist died  under torture, according to Massoud Akko of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), which monitors attacks on journalists and media workers. Akko said that on Monday Mohammed Abdelmoula al-Hariri, a citizen reporter and spokesman of the Local  Coordinating Committee in Daraa, was arrested.  On the same day Alaa Adein Aldouri, a “media activist” in Hama, was arrested and tortured to death, Akko told IPI.

Earlier this month, citizen reporter and head of the Homs media centre Ali Mahmoud Othman was taken into custody by the Syrian authorities and was believed to be at serious risk of torture, reports said. Othman reportedly chose to stay behind in Homs despite the risks even after the Syrian government recaptured the Baba Amr neighbourhood.

Reporter Özköse and cameraman Coşkun entered Syria over a month ago in order to film a documentary and report on developments there, Ali Adakoğlu, chief editor at their newspaper, Milat, told IPI Turkey at the time. Özköse is also a correspondent for Gercek Hayat (Real Life) magazine, reports say.

Their last contact with their offices was on March 10. Later that month, Turkish officials confirmed that the journalists were alive and said the Syrian government had confirmed it knew of their whereabouts, but denied reports suggesting Turkey would consider exchanging a number of Syrian generals who had defected for the journalists.

By preventing free access to foreign journalists, arresting and jailing their Syrian colleagues and press freedom defenders, impeding humanitarian access, blocking and filtering news websites and using state media to present their version of events, the Syrian authorities have tried hard to control the narrative about what’s happening in their country.

Indeed the head of the SCM, Mazen Darwish, has been in the custody of Air Force Intelligence in the El Mezze area in Damascus for over two months along with nine of his colleagues, despite repeated calls by IPI and other groups for their release. Activists believe Darwish may have been tortured.

“Mazen Darwish and his colleagues are still being held  […] and we still have no information about him or his colleagues,” Akko told IPI.

“We call for an explanation. He should be released or tried in a normal court,”  Akko added, noting Darwish has been denied access to legal counsel, family and colleagues since he was first jailed on 16 February.

Eleven journalists have been killed since the start of the conflict, several in what appear to have been targeted attacks, according to the IPI Death Watch.