The man who laughed at al-Qaeda

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 28 November 2019

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Raed Fares, founder of Syria's legendary Radio Fresh FM, was mowed down by unknown gunmen as he left his studios in rebel-held Idlib in November 2018. The death of the man who fought hatred with humour and laughed in the faces of President Assad, ISIS and al-Qaeda, sent shockwaves way beyond his troubled homeland. When ordered by Islamist extremists to stop broadcasting music he had replied with bird song and clucking chickens. On being told to take his female presenters off air, he put their voices through software to make them sound like men. In tribute to its founder, Raed Fares's radio station has refused to die with him. One year on from his killing it continues to broadcast the comedy programmes he loved, as Assad's troops close in and bombs fall around it.

Presenter: Mike Thomson Producer: Joe Kent

(Image: Raed Fares standing outside Radio Fresh. Credit: Radio Fresh)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Mike Thompson.
0:01.8	What you're about to hear is the story of Raide Faris,
0:05.0	an extraordinary Syrian activist from Idlib,
0:08.0	the country's last rebel-held province of Syria.
0:11.3	For years he defied ISIS, laughed at Al-Qaeda, and openly mocked President
0:17.3	Assad's regime. His weapons were humour and a wonderfully bizarre but inspiring radio station called Fresh FM.
0:26.0	I had the privilege of getting to know right, albeit from a distance,
0:31.0	and was shattered when this courageous fun-filled man was gunned down almost
0:36.6	exactly a year ago.
0:39.2	Here is the man who laughed at Al-Qaeda.
0:43.6	Five, four, three, two, one, zero.
0:50.6	That's funny. Amazingly, this exuberant cacophony of mad cap sounds came from the midst of war-torn idly.
0:57.0	Amazingly, this exuberant cacophony of mad cap sounds came from the midst of war-torn Idlib, Syria's last rebel-held
1:06.7	province still gripped by conflict. They were compiled and broadcast by a very extraordinary man.
1:15.0	Right, Ferris laughed at Al-Qaeda gunman and led peaceful protests against President Assad's regime.
1:27.1	His weapons were his radio station, an indomitable sense of humour and an optimism that never faded. a took their revenge. They executed it so quickly.
1:43.5	When I raised my head, I saw that ride was motionless.
1:47.4	I tried to resuscitate him.
1:48.9	I tried to scream.
1:50.0	I tried to call for help.
1:52.2	I'm Mike Thompson, and in this week's assignment on the BBC World Service
1:56.6	I'm looking at the assassination one year ago of the remarkable Syrian activist
	...

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