Syrian families demand justice for the missing: ‘Who killed them, where are they?’

The rapid fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December has thrown up numerous challenges for both Syrian society and the interim government, appointed by Ahmed al Shara, the leader of the Islamist militia Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS). Among the most pressing and complicated challenges is the need to respond to the demands from the families of the missing for truth and justice. After a brutal civil war that lasted more than 13 years, the number of people arbitrarily arrested by the Assad regime and unaccounted for exceeds 112,000, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).

Dozens of relatives of the missing organized a rally at the end of December in the center of Damascus to demand their rights. “The moment of release was a moment of great joy, but also very hard for us,” explains Wafa Mustafa, one of the activists who created the Free Syria’s Disappeared coalition. “As the days went by, the prisons were opened, but there was no trace of our loved ones, and our pain grew.” A refugee in Germany, Mustafa has returned to Syria to search for her father, Ali Mustafa, a human rights activist who has been missing since 2013.

“We want to know the whole truth: what happened to our relatives, who killed them, where they are buried. We are not satisfied with simply knowing that they are dead,” says Mustafa who, like the rest of those gathered, holds a photograph of his missing loved one in his hand. “The regime did not manage to silence us, and we are not going to be silenced now... Peace will not come to Syria without those who killed our loved ones being held accountable,” he explains.

For many years, the families of the disappeared never tired of approaching all kinds of institutions, both prisons and the regime’s multiple security and intelligence agencies, in a bid to find their loved ones. In most cases, all they got in response were rumors and demands for bribes. “There was a whole mafia that demanded thousands of dollars from the families in return for information. In many cases, the information wasn’t right, it was simply business,” explains Wassen Hamdi, a man of Palestinian origin, who puts the number of Palestinian refugees missing in Syria at around 3,500.

One of the relatives’ main demands is for a greater effort to preserve documents and other evidence that could provide clues to the fate of the disappeared. Every week, new mass graves are being discovered: there are already more than 20. “This is a key moment for the transitional authorities in Syria to act decisively and ensure the preservation of evidence as a pillar of accountability and reconciliation,” said Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International’s regional head.

Reconciliation process

The official policy of the HTS leadership regarding justice petitions has been to create a “reconciliation” process whereby former police and military members of the regime can register, turn in their weapons and petition for amnesty. The amnesty will only come into effect after an investigation to ensure that they have not committed torture and war crimes. Dozens of former officers who have refused to participate in this process have already been arrested. In some cases, they have resisted arrest, leading to violent shootings.

HTS detractors attribute these shootings to a premeditated campaign, denied by the new leaders who say they are due to “personal vendettas”. According to Mustafa, “The new Syria we want to build is not based on revenge, but on fair judicial processes.”

In other countries with a legacy of massive human rights violations, such as Argentina and South Africa, truth commissions have been established, and measures for justice and reparations for victims have been implemented. “We are preparing a proposal in this regard. The main challenge now is one of resources and funding. We need international support,” says Fadel Abdulghani, director of the SNHR. Giving some idea of the colossal challenge ahead, the number of missing in Syria is almost four times the number who disappeared during Argentina’s military dictatorship.

Another difficulty will be to address abuses and killings by those now in power. For example, well-known journalist Raed el Fares is believed to have been killed in 2018 by HTS. “We are focusing on the violations committed by the regime because there are many more, but all perpetrators will be held accountable,” Abdulghani says.

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