Assad regime has taken an additional step in restricting and piling up its already restricted press by ordering Prime Minister Imad Khamis to the Minister of Justice Hisham al-Shaar asking for a detailed memorandum on the issues related to state.
According to an official letter, al-Shaar", directed a book to Khamis on May 8, in which the minister asks his prime minister to circulate to the book on all ministries so that ministry of justice is informed about press pieces that target governmental work and contributes to weakening the prestige of the state and the national belonging of citizens.
This book sent by al-Shaar was an answer to a previous book addressed to him by Khamis in which the latter asked the Ministry of Justice to prepare a memo to monitor the reports of journalists working in the media sector.
Bashar al-Assad and his father were bitter enemies of the press and journalists. During the father's reign, dozens of people were persecuted even outside the borders and even non-Syrian nationality media professionals.
In the era of Bashar, especially after the outbreak of the revolution, the press climate worsened to an intolerable extent. The killing of journalists became a hobby for the security services of the regime and its mercenaries.
In its latest report in April, Reporters Without Borders said that Syria under Assad's rule ranks very late in the Freedom of the Press (177th out of 180 countries).
The organization described what Bashar Assad is doing to media professionals in Syria as "barbaric madness" to conclude that Syria is "the deadliest country in the world for journalists."
According to estimates by the Syrian Human Rights Network, there are about 640 journalists and media activists who have been killed in Syria, while more than 1,100 people have been arrested in this field after the sixth year of repression and bombing launched by the regime in response to the revolution demanding fundamental freedoms and especially freedom of expression
