On Wednesday, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) released an American journalist known as Bilal Abdul Kareem, a correspondent for the American ONG channel, after six months of detention.
An informed source told Zaman Al-Wasl that HTS released the journalist after a 188-day detention in its prisons in Idleb. This came halfway into the sentence issued against him and based on a guarantee from the region’s notables close to Abdul Kareem, who was arrested on August 13 in the town of Atme, north of Idleb, on the Syrian-Turkish border, with his photographer, who was previously released by HTS.
“The reason for the arrest came after a number of allegations surrounding the accused, which are currently being looked into,” HTS media relations manager told Zaman Al-Wasl in a previous statement. He did not provide more information about the nature of the allegations.
The source indicated that the arrest of Abdul Kareem came after he published a video report in which he talks about the torture of prisoners inside the HTS detention centers, zooming in on the most prominent person who was tortured, Tauqir Sharif. Sharif is a British aid worker who was released by HTS a month ago, and who had been on good terms with Abdul Kareem since they entered Syria.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
