Ibrahim Qashoush (, transliterated as Ibrāhīm Qāšūš; born September 3, 1977 in Hama, Syria; died July 3 or July 4, 2011 in the same place) was the victim of a murder that took place during the Syrian Civil War. Posthumously, the international media ascribed him the role of a leading author and singer of protest songs in his home city. He became a symbolic figure of the civil war as a civilian presumably murdered as revenge for his musical performances. Later media reports, however, call this account into question. Depiction as a murdered protest singer There are hardly any confirmed facts about Qashoush's life. Even in Hama, his name was largely unknown throughout his life. American journalist Anthony Shadid, who interviewed Hama residents about Qashoush in July 2011, reported the existence of numerous rumors in the New York Times. In various, contradictory media reports, Qashoush was described as a firefighter, a security guard, a construction worker, and a popular singer. Qashoush was allegedly kidnapped on July 3, 2011, and was found dead in the Orontes River the following day. His throat had been cut and his vocal cords had been removed. A few days after his death, pictures began to circulate along the message that Qashoush was the alleged author and singer of the popular protest song Yalla Erhal Ya Bashar! (Arabic يلا إرحل يا بشار; translated as "Come on, Bashar, leave!"), which is directed towards President Bashar al-Assad and the ruling Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. Since June, the song had been sung at mass demonstrations in the center of Hama, and quickly spread as a revolutionary hymn for the entire Syrian protest movement. The protest on July 1 was, at that point, the largest anti-Assad demonstration in the country. Reactions After news of his murder spread and due to reports from other demonstrators, Qashoush began to be celebrated as the "nightingale of the revolution," a martyr, and a symbolic figure of the revolution both within Syria and internationally. All over the world, writers guilds, among other organizations, demonstrated against the murder of the protest singer by making public statements. The case became so prominent that, in a rare, exclusive interview in December 2011, American television journalist Barbara Walters addressed Qashoush directly with President Assad. Assad responded that he had never heard of Qashoush. Even the annual report of the U.S. Department of State on the state of human rights