Naji Jerf, A Syrian activist and reporter who gained fame for exposing the some of the carnage perpetrated by the Islamic State (ISIS), was shot dead in broad daylight on Sunday in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, one day before he was scheduled to take his family into exile in France.
Jerf was walking down the street when a gunman shot him in the head, according to local reports. He was married and the father of two young children.
ISIS-affiliated social media accounts exulted over his death.
Two weeks ago, Jerf published on the internet a documentary on the rise of ISIS in Aleppo. The video revealed, among other things, the systematic murder of Syrian activists by ISIS during the group’s occupation of Aleppo in 2013 and 2014. It was subsequently aired on Al-Arabiya and was viewed more than 12 million times on the outlet’s YouTube channel.
Previously, Jerf directed a documentary on the group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, that uses social media to distribute photos and videos of from inside ISIS controlled territory in Syria.
Jerf also edited an independent monthly magazine called Hentah. A day before he was killed, Jerf posted a photo to his Facebook page showing him reading the latest edition of the magazine.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned his murder and called on Turkish authorities to protect other Syrian journalists seeking to save their lives in the country.