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BEIRUT: A press freedom NGO expressed concern on Monday over the detention of a Syrian Kurdish journalist who was arrested days earlier in Damascus by the new government’s security forces.
“The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Syrian authorities to disclose the reason for the detention of Kurdish journalist Hassan Zaza, who was taken from his home by security forces to an unknown location early on Friday,” the CPJ said in a statement.
“Syrian authorities must immediately disclose Zaza’s whereabouts, ensure his safety, and drop any charges related to his journalistic activities,” the NGO’s regional director Sara Qudah said in the statement.
Syria’s new Islamist authorities took power after ousting longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December after nearly 14 years of civil war.
The CPJ said that after Assad’s overthrow, Zaza had returned to Damascus from northeast Syria, which is controlled by a semi-autonomous Kurdish administration.
According to the group, Zaza runs a news website and had also worked with a television channel that supports the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is banned in neighboring Turkiye — a key ally of the new authorities.
The statement said Syrian information ministry official Mohammad Al-Saleh confirmed Zaza’s arrest and told the group that the move was “related to security concerns and not connected to his journalistic work.”
Saleh was not authorized to share further details because the matter was being investigated, the CPJ statement said.
“If nothing is found, he will likely be released this week,” Saleh said, according to the statement.
Qudah said that Zaza’s “secret detention... reflects a nationwide pattern of press intimidation.”
Assad’s December ouster ended decades of his family’s rule in Syria, during which press freedom was heavily curtailed and the media became a tool of those in power.
According to the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, since Assad’s toppling, journalists’ “newfound freedom remains fragile due to ongoing political instability and mounting economic pressures.”

LONDON: An Israeli parliamentary committee has advanced a motion to expel Arab-Israeli Knesset member Ayman Odeh over a social media post in which he called for freedom for Israelis and Palestinians.

Odeh, a veteran member of the Knesset and head of the Hadash-Ta’al party, faced a second hearing on Monday. In a heated session, lawmakers, including members of the opposition Yesh Atid and National Unity parties, voted 14-2 in favor of advancing impeachment proceedings.

“The opposition crossed a red line today,” Odeh said in a statement after the vote. “Instead of fighting the Kahanist government, it collaborated with them in crushing democratic space. Some of them hate us more than they love democracy.

“This is not an opposition — it is a coalition in disguise. And this is the final signature on the Nation-State Law,” he said, referring to the 2018 legislation that officially defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.

The motion targeted a January post in which Odeh welcomed the release of Palestinian security prisoners as part of a hostage exchange deal with Hamas.

“I’m happy to see the hostages and prisoners released,” Odeh wrote in the social media post cited in the motion filed by Likud Knesset member Avichay Boaron. “Next we must free both peoples from the burden of the occupation. We were all born free,” the post concluded.

Committee chairman Ofir Katz, a Likud member of the Knesset, said at the start of the hearing that “Odeh has not apologized or retracted his statements, he’s only doubled down, equating hostages with terrorists and making serious accusations against IDF soldiers.”

The hearing unfolded in a tense atmosphere, with two Knesset members reportedly ejected after clashing with other committee members while defending Odeh, according to Israeli outlet Haaretz.

Outside the Knesset, Arab and Jewish Israelis gathered in a protest in support of Odeh, calling for the expulsion process to be halted.

The final decision now moves to the Knesset floor, where a two-thirds majority — 90 out of 120 lawmakers — is required to remove a sitting member. Odeh would retain the right to appeal the decision in court.

Despite repeated attacks by coalition lawmakers, including accusations of being a “terrorist” who “would face a firing squad” elsewhere, Odeh has appealed to the opposition to block the motion and prevent what he calls an erosion of democratic norms.

Knesset members Ahmad Tibi (Hadash-Ta’al) and Walid Taha (United Arab List), both members of the Joint List, called the move “political persecution” and a dangerous precedent.

“Instead of defending freedom of expression, most opposition factions are aligning with the extremist coalition to silence Arab elected officials.”