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DW
01-07-2025
- Politics
- DW
Will Syrian war criminals ever face justice? – DW – 06/30/2025
After an alleged war criminal was set free, Syrians are questioning whether their new interim government genuinely wants justice after 14 years of civil war. The gruesome video first made global headlines three years ago. At around six minutes long, the film clip, leaked by a former militiaman loyal to deposed Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, showed the massacre of at least 41 men. Blindfolded, they were coaxed, pushed, or forced into a mass grave, where they fell onto the corpses of those who'd been killed before them, before being shot themselves. The killings, filmed in 2013, took place in a suburb of Damascus called Tadamon and locals suspect many more could have been killed here in the same way by Assad regime forces. Thousands of Syrians are still missing after the war ended in late 2024. Earlier this June, the Tadamon massacre, as it is now known, was back in the news again. Syria's Committee for Civil Peace — set up to ease community divisions after violence directed at minorities in March — had released dozens of former Assad regime soldiers. Among them, a man called Fadi Saqr, who had previously led an Assad-loyalist paramilitary group known as the National Defense Forces in Tadamon. They were allegedly responsible for the massacre in the video. Syrians who had hoped for justice were incensed about the release of Saqr and others, and called for protests. Saqr told the he'd only been appointed to lead the paramilitary after the Tadamon massacre, and the head of the Committee for Civil Peace told local media the decision to free Saqr and others had been made in the interests of peace and reconciliation. Saqr is apparently trying to persuade other former Assad regime supporters to back the new Syrian government. "Achieving transitional justice in Syriais likely to take a long time," says Alaa Bitar, a teacher from Idlib who lost his brother in the Assad regime's prisons. But releasing such well-known figures without some sort of clarification is only going to make victims upset and everyone else angry, he told DW. The controversy has raised further questions about the transitional justice process the new Syrian government has committed to. In May, the head of Syria's interim government, Ahmad al-Sharaa, issued two presidential decrees, number 19 and number 20, establishing two commissions: the National Commission for Transitional Justice, or NCTJ, and the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared, or NCM. The NCTJ came in for criticism almost immediately. The language of the decree seems to indicate the commission would mainly be going after Assad regime allies. They are responsible for the bulk of crimes committed during the civil war. "The [NCTJ's] mandate, as laid out in the decree, is troublingly narrow and excludes many victims," Alice Autin of Human Rights Watch's international justice program wrote shortly afterwards. Amnesty International and Syrian rights groups were similarly critical. "By anchoring its mandate solely to one perpetrator group, the decree forecloses the possibility of investigating atrocities committed by other actors, some of whom are still active and influential in transitional institutions today," Syrian human rights activist Mustafa Haid pointed out in a text for , a Swiss-funded media outlet specializing in transitional justice issues, last week. Critics note that crimes were committed on all sides, including by the extremist "Islamic State" group and anti-Assad rebel groups. Al-Sharaa previously led one of these, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. "Some view the focus on the crimes of the Assad regime as fair and long overdue," Joumana Seif, a Syrian lawyer working with the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, wrote recently. "Others, however, have strongly criticized the apparent discrimination among victims." Beyond problems with the objectives of the initial decree, since then there's been a troubling lack of transparency and progress, observers say. "In my opinion, the transitional justice process is not going well," Mohammad al-Abdallah, director of the Washington-based Syrian Justice and Accountability Center, told DW. "The NCTJ is lagging behind. Just compare it to the missing persons commission, which was established by the same government on the same day. It's more public, they've started technical discussions and are drafting a plan to search for the missing." Meanwhile the NCTJ is more secretive, al-Abdallah noted. "There's no comprehensive plan or understanding about why the arrest — or non-arrest — of certain people is happening. Basically nothing is transparent and there's very little trust." Of course, the mission to find missing Syrians is much easier for the state than achieving transitional justice, he argues. "The humanitarian nature of this mission [to find the missing], the vast majority of the responsibility is on Assad's security agencies, there's no trial and no headache for the government," al-Abdallah said. "It's a win-win situation for them, while transitional justice is much harder." Of course, nobody is saying that the interim government can achieve justice in a matter of months or that they should arrest everybody, al-Abdallah continued. And certainly, observers say, Syrians have different ideas of what justice could be. "People do not necessarily want their suffering retold," one participant at a recent workshop held in Damascus by the Syrians for Truth and Justice group pointed out. "Some seek material and moral compensation while others want to see executions in public squares.' But what's happening now could actually be making things worse. "The government's slow response to pursuing criminals, coupled with the release of individuals accused of serious crimes — often without trial or explanation — has severely eroded public trust," Haid Haid, a consulting fellow with the Middle East program at British think tank Chatham House wrote for London-based media outlet last week. "In the void left by these failures, many have turned to their own means of justice." Haid described a wave of assassinations in the southwestern city of Daraa as "a form of vigilante justice — long-standing scores settled with bullets instead of due process." In May, the Syrian Network for Human Rights documented 157 extrajudicial killings in Syria and experts suggest that around 70% of them are the result of some kind of vigilante justice or targeted killing. Often these involve former Assad regime supporters. Al-Abdallah says he's heard the government may conduct three or four major trials soon, after which there will be more focus on national peace building. "Which is obviously important too," he argues. "But to put peace-building in confrontation with justice, that's a fake choice." Syrian lawyers have already argued that decisions about people like Fadi Saqr made by the Committee for Civil Peace infringe on the NCTJ's jurisdiction. "We want justice and peace, and we can do both," al-Abdallah says. "You will not have a lasting peace if you don't have some elements of justice. But the government doesn't seem to be willing to accept that." 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DW
30-06-2025
- Politics
- DW
No justice, no peace: Will Syrian war criminals be punished? – DW – 06/30/2025
After an alleged war criminal was set free, Syrians are questioning whether their new interim government genuinely wants justice after 14 years of civil war. As a result of such doubts, vigilante justice is on the rise. The gruesome video first made global headlines three years ago. At around six minutes long, the film clip, leaked by a former militiaman loyal to deposed Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, showed the massacre of at least 41 men. Blindfolded, they were coaxed, pushed, or forced into a mass grave, where they fell onto the corpses of those who'd been killed before them, before being shot themselves. The killings, filmed in 2013, took place in a suburb of Damascus called Tadamon and locals suspect many more could have been killed here in the same way by Assad regime forces. Thousands of Syrians are still missing after the war ended in late 2024. Earlier this June, the Tadamon massacre, as it is now known, was back in the news again. Syria's Committee for Civil Peace — set up to ease community divisions after violence directed at minorities in March — had released dozens of former Assad regime soldiers. Among them, a man called Fadi Saqr, who had previously led an Assad-loyalist paramilitary group known as the National Defense Forces in Tadamon. They were allegedly responsible for the massacre in the video. Syrians who had hoped for justice were incensed about the release of Saqr and others, and called for protests. Saqr told the he'd only been appointed to led the paramilitary after the Tadamon massacre, and the head of the Committee for Civil Peace told local media the decision to free Saqr and others had been made in the interests of peace and reconciliation. Saqr is apparently trying to persuade other former Assad regime supporters to back the new Syrian government. "Achieving transitional justice in Syriais likely to take a long time," says Alaa Bitar, a teacher from Idlib who lost his brother in the Assad regime's prisons. But releasing such well known figures without some sort of clarification is only going to make victims upset and everyone else angry, he told DW. The controversy has raised further questions about the transitional justice process the new Syrian government has committed to. In May, the head of Syria's interim government, Ahmad al-Sharaa, issued two presidential decrees, number 19 and number 20, establishing two commissions: the National Commission for Transitional Justice, or NCTJ, and the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared, or NCM. The NCTJ came in for criticism almost immediately. The language of the decree seems to indicate the commission would mainly be going after Assad regime allies. They are responsible for the bulk of crimes committed during the civil war. "The [NCTJ's] mandate, as laid out in the decree, is troublingly narrow and excludes many victims," Alice Autin of Human Rights Watch's international justice program wrote shortly afterwards. Amnesty International and Syrian rights groups were similarly critical. "By anchoring its mandate solely to one perpetrator group, the decree forecloses the possibility of investigating atrocities committed by other actors, some of whom are still active and influential in transitional institutions today," Syrian human rights activist Mustafa Haid pointed out in a text for , a Swiss-funded media outlet specializing in transitional justice issues, last week. Critics note that crimes were committed on all sides, including by the extremist "Islamic State" group and anti-Assad rebel groups. Al-Sharaa previously led one of these, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. "Some view the focus on the crimes of the Assad regime as fair and long overdue," Joumana Seif, a Syrian lawyer working with the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, wrote recently. "Others, however, have strongly criticized the apparent discrimination among victims." Beyond problems with the objectives of the initial decree, since then there's been a troubling lack of transparency and progress, observers say. "In my opinion, the transitional justice process is not going well," Mohammad al-Abdallah, director of the Washington-based Syrian Justice and Accountability Center, told DW. "The NCTJ is lagging behind. Just compare it to the missing persons commission, which was established by the same government on the same day. It's more public, they've started technical discussions and are drafting a plan to search for the missing." Meanwhile the NCTJ is more secretive, al-Abdallah noted. "There's no comprehensive plan or understanding about why the arrest — or non-arrest — of certain people is happening. Basically nothing is transparent and there's very little trust." Of course, the mission to find missing Syrians is much easier for the state than achieving transitional justice, he argues. "The humanitarian nature of this mission [to find the missing], the vast majority of the responsibility is on Assad's security agencies, there's no trial and no headache for the government," al-Abdallah said. "It's a win-win situation for them, while transitional justice is much harder." Of course, nobody is saying that the interim government can achieve justice in a matter of months or that they should arrest everybody, al-Abdallah continued. And certainly, observers say, Syrians have different ideas of what justice could be. "People do not necessarily want their suffering retold," one participant at a recent workshop held in Damascus by the Syrians for Truth and Justice group pointed out. "Some seek material and moral compensation while others want to see executions in public squares.' But what's happening now could actually be making things worse. "The government's slow response to pursuing criminals, coupled with the release of individuals accused of serious crimes — often without trial or explanation — has severely eroded public trust," Haid Haid, a consulting fellow with the Middle East program at British think tank Chatham House wrote for London-based media outlet last week. "In the void left by these failures, many have turned to their own means of justice." Haid described a wave of assassinations in the southwestern city of Daraa as "a form of vigilante justice — long-standing scores settled with bullets instead of due process." In May, the Syrian Network for Human Rights documented 157 extrajudicial killings in Syria and experts suggest that around 70% of them are the result of some kind of vigilante justice or targeted killing. Often these involve former Assad regime supporters. Al-Abdallah says he's heard the government may conduct three or four major trials soon, after which there will be more focus on national peace building. "Which is obviously important too," he argues. "But to put peace-building in confrontation with justice, that's a fake choice." Syrian lawyers have already argued that decisions about people like Fadi Saqr made by the Committee for Civil Peace infringe on the NCTJ's jurisdiction. "We want justice and peace, and we can do both," al-Abdallah says. "You will not have a lasting peace if you don't have some elements of justice. But the government doesn't seem to be willing to accept that." 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Asharq Al-Awsat
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Syria's Reconciliation Committee Prioritizes Stability after Anger Over Prisoner Releases
Syria's High Committee for National Reconciliation has defended recent controversial prisoner releases, saying the decision aims to preserve national stability amid ongoing tensions. Committee member Hassan Soufan confirmed that several officers recently freed had voluntarily surrendered in 2021 at the Iraqi border and in the Al-Sukhna region, under a formal request for safe conduct. Speaking at a press conference in Damascus on Tuesday, Soufan addressed public backlash following the releases and acknowledged the deep pain felt by victims' families. 'We fully understand the anger and grief of the families of martyrs,' he said. 'But the current phase requires decisions that can help secure relative stability for the coming period.' The controversy erupted after the Ministry of Interior announced on Sunday the release of dozens of detainees in Latakia, many of whom were arrested during the 'Deterrence of Aggression' operation, which contributed to the fall of the Assad regime. Among those involved in the mediation effort was Fadi Saqr, a former commander in the regime's National Defense Forces, who has been accused of war crimes, including involvement in the Tadamon massacre in southern Damascus. Soufan explained that the released officers had undergone investigation and were found not to have participated in war crimes. 'Keeping them imprisoned no longer serves a national interest,' he said. 'It has no legal justification.' He stressed that Syria is in a delicate phase of national reconciliation, in which balancing justice and peace is critical. 'There are two parallel tracks - transitional justice and civil peace - and today, the priority is civil peace, as it lays the groundwork for all other strategic efforts,' he said. Soufan added that the committee has requested expanded powers from the Syrian president, including the authority to release detainees not proven guilty and to coordinate directly with state institutions. He insisted that the aim is not to bypass justice, but to prevent further bloodshed. 'Vengeance and retribution are not paths to justice,' he said. 'They allow real criminals to slip away while deepening divisions.' While affirming that transitional justice remains essential, Soufan noted that it should focus on top perpetrators of atrocities, not individuals who merely served under the regime. 'Justice means accountability for those who planned and carried out major crimes, not blanket punishment.'
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Secret Docs Reveal Putin Ally's Role in Missing U.S. Reporter's Disappearance
Secret intelligence files show that missing U.S. journalist Austin Tice was imprisoned by the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria despite the regime's longstanding denials, according to a report. Tice, a freelance journalist, was abducted outside the Syrian capital of Damascus in August 2012. He has remained missing ever since—though the BBC now claims to have confirmation that Assad's government, which was overthrown in December 2024, had Tice in its detention. Washington, D.C., has previously accused the Syrian government under Assad—who fled to Russia and the protection of his ally Vladimir Putin—of being responsible for Tice's disappearance. The U.S. has also questioned the authenticity of a video that emerged shortly after Tice vanished, showing him blindfolded and being held at gunpoint, with analysts suggesting the scene may have been staged to give the appearance that a jihadist group took Tice. No group or nation has claimed responsibility for Tice's disappearance. The BBC now reports it has the first evidence that the Syrian government detained the reporter. The broadcaster claims Tice was captured in a suburb outside Damascus and then held by an Assadist paramilitary group called the National Defense Forces (NDF). One document marked 'top secret' obtained by the BBC said Tice was kept in a detention facility in Damascus in 2012. 'Austin's value was understood,' a former NDF member told the broadcaster, describing Tice as a 'card' to be played in any future diplomatic negotiations with the U.S. Tice was held in the facility until at least February 2013, another Syrian official told the BBC, during which time he was visited at least twice by a doctor. The outlet reported that blood tests showed Tice had a viral infection at the time. He was later spotted by a visitor to the facility who told the BBC Tice was being treated slightly better than Syrian prisoners, but that 'he looked sad, and the joy had gone from his face.' At some point between late 2012 and early 2013, Tice is reported to have escaped from the facility after squeezing through a window in his cell, but was quickly recaptured. He was also said to have been interrogated twice by a Syrian intelligence officer. Following the downfall of the Assad regime in December 2024, then-President Joe Biden told a press conference he believed Tice was alive and was committed to returning him to his family. Biden also admitted the government had 'no direct evidence' of his whereabouts and said: 'We still have to identify where he is.' Tice's mother, Debra, said at the time that a 'significant source' had told her Austin was alive and was being 'treated well' by his captors. After the regime fell and political prisoners were freed, Tice has still not been found. A former U.S. Marine captain, Tice served in Iraq and Afghanistan before traveling to Syria in 2012 to report on the country's civil war as a freelancer. He is thought to be one of the longest-held American hostages in history. Around 100,000 people were disappeared by the Assad regime, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights.
Asharq Al-Awsat
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Damascus Arrests Drug Trafficker Linked to Maher al-Assad, Others Held Over Tadamon Massacre
Security forces in the Damascus countryside announced the arrest of Shadi Adel Mahfouz, describing him as one of the individuals involved in recent attacks on security forces in the coastal region. Mahfouz was reportedly employed by the ousted regime's Military Intelligence Branch 277 and was responsible for recruitment on behalf of Military Security. Security forces also arrested two suspects linked to the 2013 massacre in the Tadamon district of Damascus: Kamel Sharif Abbas and Maher Hadeed. Hadeed, a member of the National Defense Forces, is accused of committing additional war crimes against Syrian civilians. Authorities suspect a connection between Hadeed and Amjad Youssef, the primary suspect in the Tadamon massacre. The arrests follow just over a month after Syrian security forces captured three individuals involved in the 2013 Tadamon massacre. One of the suspects confessed to killing more than 500 people in the Tadamon district at the start of the revolution against the former regime. The massacre took place on Nasreen Street in Tadamon, near the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in Damascus. It remained undiscovered for nearly nine years until footage surfaced in April 2022, published by the Guardian. The video revealed Syrian regime forces executing 41 civilians, including seven women and several children. In related developments, local media sources reported the arrest of Mohannad Naaman, a close associate of Maher al-Assad and senior officers in the Fourth Division. Naaman, originally from Harasta in the Damascus countryside, is accused of overseeing one of the major captagon pill production sites in both the Damascus countryside and along Syria's coastal region, including a ship anchored off Syria's shores.
