Three things keep someone in Hassan's position safe: names on the record, pressure on decision-makers, and journalists paying attention. You can help with all three.
Withdraw the cyber-crime complaint and stop using Assad-era laws to punish peaceful speech and anti-corruption journalism.
Ensure Hassan's physical safety and freedom from intimidation, harassment, and threats.
Publish where pledged reconstruction donations went. Protect the people who ask — don't prosecute them.
You don't need to be in Syria to make a difference. Public attention from anywhere makes a case like this harder to ignore.
Put your name and country on the public record in support of free expression and due process.
Use the template below to contact the Syrian Ministry of Information, your own representatives, or organisations like CPJ and RSF.
Send the media kit to anyone covering Syria, corruption, or press freedom.
To whom it may concern,
I am writing about Hassan Akkad, the Syrian-British filmmaker, who has been summoned under a cyber-crime law over a peaceful campaign asking where pledged reconstruction donations have gone.
Asking such questions is a basic exercise of free expression. I respectfully urge that the case against him be dropped, that his safety be guaranteed, and that the underlying questions about public donations be answered transparently.
I will be following this case and hope to see it resolved in a way that honours the rights Syrians struggled for.
Sincerely,
[Your name, city/country]
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Honest answers to what people ask most. If your question isn't here, email press@freehassan.com.
A journalist. A policymaker. A human-rights contact. One informed person in the right place can change how a case like this ends.