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Homs residents become citizen journalists

Despite the danger, activists in the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs haven taken to filming and documenting online the conditions they face.

2 min read

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Source: CNN, SBS


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Residents in the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs wake up each day to the sounds of artillery fire.

Trapped in their homes, the locals risk death if they venture outside.

Despite the danger, some activists haven taken to filming the conditions they face and sharing their videos online.

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Rami al-Sayyed was one of the best-known citizen journalists from the violence-ravaged neighbourhood.

Al-Sayyed's frequent despatches - such as the one below - earned him the nickname 'the eyes of Homs'.

Al-Sayyed was killed on Tuesday, and his death was documented on YouTube.

In one video, doctors and nurses crowd around al-Sayyed, who is unconscious and receiving blood.

They repeatedly try to revive him, urging him to breathe, and saying they are praying for his life.

A doctor addresses the person filming the events, blaming Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the violence, and saying al-Sayyed is one of many martyrs to the cause of his ouster.

He says al-Sayyed is bleeding heavily from his right thigh and requires urgent surgery to stop his internal bleeding, but that there are no facilities or resources to perform it.

It appears that al-Sayyed passes away during or shortly after the filming of that video.

WARNING: The following links lead to videos that contain extremely graphic images of Rami in his last moments, and of a doctor announcing his death to the world as he stands by his body.

Watch Brian Thomson's report on the Homs seige and the death of foreign journalists


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