Al-Jawad
documented clashes and protests for the Qaboun Media
Center, a group of opposition citizen journalists who film clashes in the neighborhood of Qaboun and publish the
unattributed videos online, according to international broadcaster Al-Jazeera
and the local press freedom group Syrian Journalists Association.
Al-Jawad,
who was known locally as “Abu Teem,” was killed with Amr Badir al-Deen
Junaid, the head of the Qaboun Media Center, by a
mortar shell fired by pro-Assad forces in Qaboun, according to Shaam News
Network and other reports. The Qaboun Media Center posted a video
of a shell landing close to one of its other photographers, who was uninjured,
on the same day. Qaboun and surrounding neighborhoods on the outskirts of
Damascus witnessed intense fighting that day.
There
were conflicting reports on the circumstances surrounding al-Jawad’s death. The
Syrian Journalists Association said
al-Jawad was hit while on his way to cover civilians in a makeshift hospital
injured by shelling from pro-Assad forces. But Al-Jazeera said
he was hit while filming shelling in the area. Neither source provided further
details.
The
Qaboun Media Center has published hundreds of videos since it established its YouTube account
in July 2011. Similar media centers have sprung up all across Syria as citizen
journalists and opposition activists document how the unrest has affected their
communities. The Qaboun Media Center’s videos have been broadcast by local and
international news outlets, including the New
York Times, Al-Jazeera,
and the Daily
Mail.
The
documentation provided by citizen journalists has been crucial in the
international understanding of the Syrian conflict because of extreme
government restrictions and danger that prevent widespread news media coverage.
According
to Baraa al-Shami, a member of a network of opposition groups in Damascus
called the Revolution Leadership Council, al-Jawad had worked for the Qaboun
Media center through the uprising and civil war and had filmed battles and protests
in the outskirts of suburbs. Pictures
of al-Jawad’s burial depicted a Qur’an and video camera resting on his body.