The Committee to Protect Journalists: Don't get your sources in Syria killed
Because foreign journalists have been virtually banned from Syria during the uprising against Bashar al-Assad's regime, news coverage has relied heavily on citizen journalists and international reporters working with sources inside the country. Syrians who communicate with foreign news media run the risk of being threatened, detained, tortured, or even killed.
This month, a Syrian court sentenced citizen journalist Mohammed Abdel Mawla al-Hariri to death for the crime of "high treason and contacts with foreign parties." He was arrested in April immediately after giving an interview with Al-Jazeera about conditions in his hometown of Daraa, in the southern part of the country. According to a report by the Skeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom, al-Hariri was tortured after his arrest. In the wake of the verdict and sentencing, he was transferred to Saidnaya military prison north of Damascus.
Al-Hariri is not alone. Press freedom groups such as CPJ and Reporters Without Borders have documented the detention of dozens of journalists; Syrian reporters, bloggers, and activists are regularly followed, arrested, and tortured.
Ordinary citizens who come into contact with international journalists are also targeted. Last fall, British journalist and filmmaker Sean McAllister met with a 25-year-old dissident and computer expert in Damascus who goes by the pseudonym "Kardokh." Columbia Journalism Review reports that Kardokh had agreed to be interviewed on camera, with the understanding that McAllister would blur his face before publishing the footage. But in October 2011, Syrian security agents arrested McAllister, seizing his laptop, cell phone, camera, and the footage for his documentary--including images and contact information that could be used to identify the activists he interviewed. When Kardokh heard that McAllister had been arrested, he immediately packed his bags and fled to Lebanon. Kardokh reports that several of the activists he had put in touch with McAllister had been arrested and at least one had disappeared. Channel 4, McAllister's news outlet, told CJR that the journalist had taken steps to protect his material but Syria proved unusually difficult.
http://cpj.org/security/2012/05/dont-get-your-sources-in-syria-killed.php