Turkish humanitarian organization IHH has published
a picture of missing Alhurra TV cameraman Cuneyt Unal, prompting the
Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees Alhurra TV, the Middle
East-targeted satellite TV channel.
The picture surfaced Oct. 24, according to BBG.
Unal and correspondent Bashar Fahmi have been missing since
Aug. 20, when they were reportedly kidnapped by Syrian forces, although the
Syrian government released a statement Tuesday, Sept. 4, saying Fahmi was not
under Syrian authority.
Unal, who is Turkish, was shown in a video Aug. 26 on a
Syrian government channel claiming to be part of an international militant
force. The Turkish ambassador has maintained Unal was forced to make the
statement.
"We continue demand the immediate release of Unal and
Fahmi," said Richard Lobo, Director of the BBG's International
Broadcasting Bureau, in a statement Sunday, Oct. 28. "They were in
Syria to report on the news strictly in a journalistic capacity."
A Japanese reporter, Mika Yamamoto, was killed in the
Northern Syrian city of Aleppo in last August, according to various reports,
including from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Fahmi and Unal were
in the same city when they were captured.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says Syria is currently
the most dangerous posting in the world for journalists.
Also still missing in Syria is U.S. journalist Austin Tice
and Anhar Kochneva, a freelance Ukrainian journalist, which BBG pointed out
Sunday had disappeared from Homs on Oct. 9. On Oct. 10, according to CPJ,
Mohammed al-Ashram, a cameraman for Syrian TV station TV station Al-Ikhbariya was
killed while covering a clash between rebels and the Syrian government.
