A Manhunt for Assad’s Shabihas
with a local news organisation. So Jett, a member of our team, told me that he could put us in touch with Fidelius Schmid from Der Spiegel. Fidelius Schmid: “A first trip to The Hague to meet up with Mahmoud Al-Ken and his team and record the interviews in the film showed me what they had in mind: thoroughly researched, high-end quality products. I was very pleased to be part of it. Der Spiegel’s part was clear: find out where Alaa Mousa lived and go and get a picture of him. We finally found Alaa Mousa. Mahmoud came to Germany to give Mousa a right of response on camera. I went along. We took a breath and asked about him at his place of work. He wasn’t there. We then went to his home, where his wife told us he was at work. A day later I received an aggressive email from Mousa himself and his lawyer subsequently informed me the local prosecutor had opened a case against me. I was facing criminal charges for trying to bring out the truth about a man suspected of torturing and killing people he was supposed to treat as a doctor.”
A few weeks after this investigative documentary was aired on Al Jazeera, Mousa was arrested by the German authorities. He faced 18 criminal charges, including war crimes. It was the first time a Syrian war crimes suspect had been found through the work of journalists. Throughout the year 2021, this investigative documentary bagged a number of prestigious media awards. The case against Fidelius was dropped. It wasn’t easy confronting Shabihas, but my colleague Sameer once told me once: “don’t worry once you take the right side, you will be surprised how the wrong is weak.”
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