Iraq News
Terrorism

ISIS executes youth media activist in Syria's Mayadeen

By Waleed Abu al-Khair in Cairo

Youth media activist Ali Yusuf Radhi was executed on Monday (August 21st) by the 'Islamic State of Iraq and Syria' after he was caught writing and distributing anti-ISIS leaflets. [Photo circulating on social media accounts]

Youth media activist Ali Yusuf Radhi was executed on Monday (August 21st) by the 'Islamic State of Iraq and Syria' after he was caught writing and distributing anti-ISIS leaflets. [Photo circulating on social media accounts]

The "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) on Monday (August 21st) executed a youth media activist in the Syrian town of Mayadeen for writing leaflets denouncing the group, an activist in Deir Ezzor told Diyaruna.

Compounding the misery of the slain activist's family, ISIS then prohibited them from receiving condolences for his death, said media activist Nasser al-Maleh, using a pseudonym out of concern for his safety.

ISIS elements in Mayadeen executed Ali Yusuf Radhi, who worked with the Al-Maydeen Al-Yawm Facebook page, on Monday afternoon, he told Diyaruna.

"Radhi suffered gunshots to his head and various parts of his body," he said.

His family was told that the reason for his execution was that he was caught engaging in "illegal" media activities, al-Maleh said.

In addition to preventing Radhi's family from receiving condolences, ISIS did not hand over his body to them, he said, adding that all he knows is that the body was buried in an unidentified area in rural Deir Ezzor.

This was "most likely in one of the mass graves the group uses in such cases", he added.

Fears about popular rebellion

The group's insistence on hiding the body and prohibiting the holding of a wake was apparently intended to avoid any assembly that might lead to crowds gathering and rebelling against it, al-Maleh said.

This was a particular concern for ISIS as the slain youth was very popular in the region because of the publications he wrote, most of which called for rejection of the group’s rule and exposed its actions against the region’s residents.

The Al-Mayadeen Al-Yawm Facebook page Radhi co-founded recently had been very active in reporting the suffering of the region’s residents and exposing ISIS’s inhumane actions against them, he said.

Al-Maleh added that the victim had recently taken great risks, in that he was not cautious or mindful that ISIS was going after media activists.

"During airstrikes and in their immediate aftermath, ISIS elements almost totally vanish from the streets, as do its patrols that roam the city," he said.

On August 20th, however -- the day of his detention -- Radhi took advantage of this quiet period to stop at the one remaining internet café the group had allowed to continue operating in Mayadeen.

He was evidently under close surveillance, al-Maleh said, for he was apprehended inside the café.

Eyewitnesses near the café reported that ISIS elements quickly grabbed his hands and confiscated his cell phone, which he apparently was using to post news on Al-Mayadeen Al-Yawm Facebook page.

The page that carries the name Al-Mayadeen Al-Yawm has since been taken down, al-Maleh said, adding that "it is obvious that it was ISIS who took it down".

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