Late on Thursday, two men were shot dead in the north-western Syrian town of Kafranbel. Raed Fares and his friend Hammoud Al Jneid were driving home from a mosque when unknown gunmen opened fire on their car. Unlike many in the restive province of Idlib, Fares's name was well-known, both locally and around the world. Starting out by photographing protests during the initial Syrian uprisings and circulating the images on the internet, he rose to prominence as an outspoken advocate of democracy.
Always a fierce critic of the Assad regime, Fares took an equally determined stance against Islamist extremists and global powers. His viral videos and acerbically witty protest banners grabbed the attention of the world, promoting the idea of peaceful revolution and highlighting urgent Syrian issues with barbed English-language slogans. These efforts made Fares a high-profile target of groups such as ISIS and Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, now the dominant militant organisation in Idlib. Several attempts were made on his life throughout the Syrian war and in 2014, he survived gunshot wounds to the chest after an attack by masked militants.
Far from being a one-man operation, Fares held a powerful belief in the value of collaboration and mentoring. In 2011, he established the Kafranbel Media Centre. Two years later, he launched his most ambitious venture, Radio Fresh. In addition to the station’s immediate remit of reporting independent news to the Syrian people and countering fundamentalist narratives, Radio Fresh had a greater long-term aim.
As he wrote in an article for the Washington Post in June, following the US State Department's decision to cut the station's funding: "We provide media training for more than 2,500 young men and women. We are helping them become the citizen-journalists that are so badly needed in Syria." It is essential, for the the sake of Syrians, that those young trainees continue to give a voice to the voiceless and are galvanised to uphold the messages and values he held dear.
For in many ways, Fares was an exceptional man. When militants demanded that Radio Fresh stop playing music, he responded by broadcasting a non-stop schedule of animal noises: birdsong in the morning, bleating goats in the afternoon and croaking frogs at night. His choice of programming was, he stated, a form of resistance to hardline interpretations of Islam – it was also a typically wilful and wryly humorous response. While nearly eight years of grinding violence have forced many similarly minded Syrian activists into exile, Fares remained determined to stay at home, steadfast in the belief that a better world was possible. It is a tragedy that he will no longer be able to play a part in making this long-held dream a reality.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
Can NRIs vote in the election?
Indians residing overseas cannot cast their ballot abroad
Non-resident Indians or NRIs can vote only by going to a polling booth in their home constituency
There are about 3.1 million NRIs living overseas
Indians have urged political parties to extend the right to vote to citizens residing overseas
A committee of the Election Commission of India approved of proxy voting for non-resident Indians
Proxy voting means that a person can authorise someone residing in the same polling booth area to cast a vote on his behalf.
This option is currently available for the armed forces, police and government officials posted outside India
A bill was passed in the lower house of India’s parliament or the Lok Sabha to extend proxy voting to non-resident Indians
However, this did not come before the upper house or Rajya Sabha and has lapsed
The issue of NRI voting draws a huge amount of interest in India and overseas
Over the past few months, Indians have received messages on mobile phones and on social media claiming that NRIs can cast their votes online
The Election Commission of India then clarified that NRIs could not vote online
The Election Commission lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police asking it to clamp down on the people spreading misinformation
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Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
Know your Camel lingo
The bairaq is a competition for the best herd of 50 camels, named for the banner its winner takes home
Namoos - a word of congratulations reserved for falconry competitions, camel races and camel pageants. It best translates as 'the pride of victory' - and for competitors, it is priceless
Asayel camels - sleek, short-haired hound-like racers
Majahim - chocolate-brown camels that can grow to weigh two tonnes. They were only valued for milk until camel pageantry took off in the 1990s
Millions Street - the thoroughfare where camels are led and where white 4x4s throng throughout the festival
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.