Ameer Al-Halbi

On November 28, 2020 in Paris, Syrian photojournalist Ameer Al-Halbi collected material for a reportage during a demonstration against the “global security” law. During the rally, the police began to beat the protesters, and despite the fact that Ameer was among the other journalists separately from the crowd, one of the officers attacked him with a police baton. Al-Halbi was not the only journalist injured by the police that day.

As a result of the actions of the police, his nose was broken and he received several facial injuries. Despite the fact that the journalist was bleeding and losing consciousness, for the next two hours he could not get to the hospital due to the fact that the streets were blocked by the police. As a result of his injuries, Ameer remained incapacitated for 12 days.

On December 7, Journalists Without Borders (RSF) filed a complaint against Police Prefect Didier Lallemand and an unidentified police officer. The organization collected and watched dozens of hours of video footage from the rally, which shows that the police are grossly overstepping their authority. It is reported that the investigation into this case is still ongoing.

On April 8, 2021, thanks to the efforts of human rights defenders of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, a judicial investigation was launched into the fact of intentional violence by a person endowed with state power.