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'Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently' Activist Killed in Urfa, Activist Group Says

Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently has been documenting ISIS abuses.
Ibrahim Abdel Qader
Ibrahim Abdel Qader

An anti-ISIS activist group said Friday one of its members has been "slaughtered" in Turkey by the militants.

Ibrahim Abd al Qader was found "slaughtered" along with a friend "by the hands of ISIS" in the city of Urfa, according to the group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently.

The group posted pictures of Qader and his friend Fares Hammadi on its official Facebook page and changed its profile picture to a black square.

Turkish authorities could not immediately be reached for comment.

Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently has been documenting ISIS abuses since the militants swept through Iraq and Syria.

In an interview last year, al Qader told NBC News that he had been arrested and tortured by ISIS in Raqqa — whipped, beaten and left in solitary confinement. He left the city when ISIS took complete control and ended up in Turkey.

He said he was aware his work put him in danger — ISIS had put a ransom on his head — but felt an obligation to continue.

"We are the sons of this country. If we do not spread the sound of our suffering to the whole world, to see the violations of Daesh (ISIS), who will?" he told NBC News. "We do what we can ... the sons of Raqqa."

"Of course I fear for myself ... but I've taken my own precautions," he added.

Hamadi was a journalist with Eye on Homeland, a Syrian media collective, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

"We call for an immediate and thorough investigation by Turkish authorities into these heinous murders and to bring the culprits to justice," CPJ's Europe and Central Asia Program coordinator, Nina Ognianova, said in a statement. "The risks to journalists operating in Syria are well documented. These murders show how the grave risks journalists face in Syria have metastasized across the porous border with Turkey."