One year after Assad's fall, Syrians await transitional justice

One year ago, tens of thousands of Syrians were liberated from Assad’s jails. While Saydnaya prison was the most notorious of all, the regime’s carceral apparatus included dozens of other facilities and security branches.

Shadi Haroun, 41, was arrested in 2011, just as the revolution was beginning to gain momentum. He was detained for organising peaceful protests as a member of a local coordination committee for Damascus and its suburbs.

Haroun was sent from prison to prison - five prisons and 24 intelligence branches in total - until eventually finding himself in Saydnaya, where prisoners were sent to die under torture. However, in 2020, he was one of the rare prisoners to be liberated.

Today, justice remains out of reach for Haroun and other former detainees, as well as the families of the nearly 200,000 forcibly disappeared. While there have been televised confessions, no public trials of former regime personnel have taken place yet. Dozens of top regime personnel, foremost Bashar Al-Assad himself, have fled the country.

“The main purpose of the revolution was to have justice and dignity - now, the absence of justice for those people - for those who were detained or have disappeared persons in their family - are frustrated to say the least,” Haroun - who now works for the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) - told The New Arab.

“We're a year after the fall of the regime and, with no justice until now, people feel anger and sentiments of revenge. This has pushed them to take justice into their own hands, through revenge killings outside of the law,” he added.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights has documented thousands of revenge killings, peaking with the coastal massacres in March of this year. Over the span of three days, 1,500 Alawites - the minority Muslim sect to which Assad belonged - were killed after regime loyalists attacked government forces. Extrajudicial killings have continued in Alawite-majority areas of the coast and central Syria.

The slow pace of justice casts a dark shadow over the country’s future, tempering feelings of joy on the anniversary of the regime’s fall. As it stalls, Syria's fragile stability is increasingly at risk, former detainees and families of the missing warn.

First steps towards transitional justice

In late November, 14 people in the first trial of hundreds of perpetrators - both regime loyalists and members of government factions - of the coastal massacres took place. While it marked the first step in transitional justice, many criticised the trial for taking priority over those of top regime personnel.

“It was a show, not a trial - it was to show the government is doing something,” Haroun says. “The trial increased the anger of people because they have been waiting for 14 years to have this kind of trial for regime officials.”

“It’s positive that the state considers itself responsible for some of the violations,” says Muhannad Younes, 49, a former detainee of the military intelligence’s 227 Branch, who represents the Ta’afi Initiative, a victims’ organisation.

“However, the state has not moved for us; it’s only moved for the coastal massacres, so there’s a feeling of discrimination - the state shouldn’t be allowed to look with one eye,” he added.

“I can’t think of the crimes that took place on the coast, and to forget those that were committed against the majority,” echoes Mariam Alhallak, 72, president of Caesar Families Association, who lost her youngest son under torture in 2012.

“It’s for the government to show the West that we held the perpetrators of the coastal massacres to account.”

While many are impatient for justice, the state does not yet have the legislation to prosecute war crimes, enforced disappearances, and other human rights violations. Syria is not a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) nor is it a signatory to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

“Normal courts cannot prosecute the regime’s perpetrators - there needs to be special courts,” Younes says. Under Syrian law, members of the security forces enjoy legal immunity. “Laws need to be revised, and institutions must be reformed that participated indirectly or directly in the violations, or we will go back to zero - there needs to be constitutional guarantees for reform,” he adds.

“There needs to be a constitution and competent courts, as they were corrupt in all aspects,” echoes Mohammed Baraa Jlilate, 32, who is a former detainee of Adra prison. He was detained for eight years and joined the Adra Detainees Association upon his release.

In March, the government issued a Constitutional Declaration, which serves as a de facto constitution until the parliament passes a new one. However, until now, there is no active parliament. While indirect elections in October appointed two-thirds of parliament, the remaining third has yet to be appointed by President Ahmed Al-Sharaa.

Nonetheless, the government has taken steps to begin building institutions for transitional justice. In May, it appointed a National Commission for Transitional Justice and a National Commission for the Missing.

The National Commission for Transitional Justice is tasked with investigating human rights violations, holding those responsible to account, providing reparations to victims, and promoting national reconciliation.

The National Commission for the Missing, in turn, is responsible for investigating the fate of the forcibly disappeared and providing legal and humanitarian support to affected families. Victims’ organisations, such as the Ta’afi Initiative, Adra Detainees Association, and the Caesar Families’ Association, are coordinating closely with the commissions to support their work.

Some former detainees have expressed understanding of the slow pace of transitional justice. “It takes time, especially since we have a state that is being rebuilt from zero,” Jlilate says. “I expect transitional justice to take at least ten years to cover all crimes committed on Syrian soil,” Haroun says.

“Until now, it’s too early to judge if the government doesn’t want transitional justice,” Younes says.

Threats of instability

“Today, there is great public discontent and frustration, which could lead to instability as a lot of people are unable to withstand seeing their criminals in the streets,” Jlilate says.

“If the government doesn’t move, people will take [justice] into their own hands - we must go back to the law, otherwise it could trigger a chain of violence,” echoes Younes. He knows of at least five people who have killed members of the former regime whom they hold responsible for torturing or forcibly disappearing their loved ones.

“Transitional justice is for there to be civil peace, and this is the most important step for the government and society to take,” says Alhallak. “Transitional justice must apply to everyone who had a hand in killing Syrians.” However, the constitutional declaration only evokes justice for crimes committed under Assad.

“Usually, the trade-off is between development, justice, and improvement of the economy, and it was clear from the government over the past year [which it chose],” he added.

Over the past year, Damascus sought to attract capital to fund the country’s colossal reconstruction needs. In October, Al-Sharaa announced that Syria had secured $28 billion in investments.

“However, the error was to bet on the absence of justice, which led to the events on the coast and in Suweida,” Alhallak said.

In addition to the coastal killings, over 1,000 people were killed in Suweida after local Druze factions clashed with government troops and aligned tribal forces, with extrajudicial killings of at least 46 Druze civilians.

“Those things happened because there is no clear vision of justice and democracy from the government - it confirms the extent to which transitional justice is essential to Syrian society, on the same level as economic recovery,” Haroun says.

“Ultimately, transitional justice is key to protecting against a new dictatorship and renewed civil war, and the prevention of future crimes - if there isn’t political will, there will be no justice,” he adds. “I, like others, engaged in the revolution because of the absence of justice and dignity. The absence of these principles will motivate or trigger people to think about undertaking another revolution against this government.”

With the regime’s collapse, “the joy was for one day, it was the biggest moment of joy in my life,” Alhallak says. “This joy stopped when the prisons opened and the detainees, who were brothers, sisters, husbands, did not come out,” he added.

“The fall of the regime is a milestone for a new Syria that has justice, that offers dignity, and also safeguards human rights,” Haroun notes. “We can’t deny there is joy, but joy without real progress on the ground will be limited.”

“The victory of the revolution made people happy, but without transitional justice it’s incomplete,” echoes Jlilate.

Natacha Danon is a Damascus-based journalist with Syria Direct

Follow her on X: @natacha_danon and @natachadanon.bsky.social.

Edited by Charlie Hoyle