Activists confirm 30-year-old was killed in September having been accused by Islamic State of spying for rival Syrian groups

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Islamic State militants murdered a journalist who wrote about daily life in occupied Raqqa, having accused her of being a spy, activists have confirmed.

Ruqia Hassan, 30, was killed in September, but news of her death became widely known this week after Isis claimed on social media that she was still alive.

Writing under the pen name Nissan Ibrahim, Hassan’s posts described life for residents of Raqqa, Isis’s Syrian stronghold, and the frequent coalition airstrikes against the group.

Hassan studied philosophy at Aleppo University and later joined the opposition to the regime of Bashar al-Assad when the revolution began in Raqqa. She refused to leave after Isis entered the city.

Hassan had been placed under surveillance by Isis and was held in August, accused of being in contact with the “sahawat”, a derogatory term used by Isis to refer to the Free Syrian Army, whom it considers traitors.

Hassan posted messages on Facebook about how she felt and the music she listened to, and sent messages of hope to her followers.



‘After each hardship comes good things,’ Ruqia Hassan wrote last summer. Photograph: Facebook post

In another post, Hassan agonised over the problems facing Raqqa, under fire from Isis and being bombed by the coalition.

Ok if we don’t want Daesh ... And we don’t want the coalition bombing Daesh ... And we don’t want the Free Syria[n] Army to fight Daesh … ‪Then what do we want exactly?



Earlier she wrote of how internet spaces were being taken over by Isis, which meant losing the only means of communication with family and diaspora Syrian families.

الرقة تذبح بصمت (@Raqqa_SL) "Nissan Ibrahim" Syrian activist from #Raqqa has been executed in Raqqa city by #IS #RIP . pic.twitter.com/KM8dEILMtr

A user known as Abu Mohammed, a founder of the anti-Isis Syrian activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS), tweeted the final words Hassan posted on Facebook.

الرقة تذبح بصمت (@Raqqa_SL) 1-the last words from Nissan Ibrahim Syrian activist who got executed by #ISIS was " im in Raqqa and I received pic.twitter.com/4CPswO2LLI

Abu Mohammed (@Raqqa_sl1) #Raqqa 2-"Death threats and when #ISIS will Arrest me and kill me its ok Because they will cut my head and i have Dignity its better than"

Abu Mohammed (@Raqqa_sl1) #Raqqa 3-I live in Humiliation with #ISIS #RIP Nissan

The activist group said she had not been the only female journalist murdered in Syria by Isis, but the identity or number of others killed is not known.

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Her Facebook profile has been kept open and activists have speculated that Isis could be using her previous posts to find information on those she was in contact with inside Raqqa.



Last weekend, an Isis propaganda video emerged in which five men appeared to be murdered after being accused of spying. The film shows the victims describing their “crimes”, such as running internet cafes and sending pictures of Raqqa to Turkey.

In December, Isis killed Naji Jerf, the editor-in-chief of the independent monthly Hentah and an activist with RBSS, who had documented human rights violations committed in Raqqa by the group in his film Islamic State in Aleppo.