“We better die from the virus, if it spreads to the camps, than starve to death, since it is particularly difficult to obtain detergents in the camp,” the mother said, weary of the long arduous day on the farm.  

With the money she and her daughters earn, she gets to buy as much vegetables and crops as possible. These, she then turns into food storage for winter. 

Displaced from the al-Ghab Plain, the family today lives in the al-Safsafe Camp, near Salqin city. As COVID-19 prevailed, Rama’s brothers, like the rest of the camp men, yielded to unemployment after they lost their jobs in construction. 

With the significant spread of the virus, the camps’ people had to grapple with major challenges, most importantly their severely affected jobs. Furthermore, they are toiling to make a living, considering their long stay at the camps, lacking job opportunities and humanitarian aid, which before amounted to food shares and a few healthcare services at best, provided by organizations and civil society associations, the camp’s residents said. 

It is dangerous and horrifying, a number of despondent displaced persons at the camps in north Syria said, describing their life there. 

“We almost have no food. The aid we get every now and then is insufficient. We are not even getting enough water, drinkable or for household uses,” said Hind Malaki (33 years), a woman displaced from Mount Zawiya to rural Idlib with her three-member family. “My husband was a day labourer, and we struggled only to get bread. Our life in the camp has grown worse than ever.”

The larger proportion of the camps’ residents are displaced from areas in Hama, Aleppo and Idlib, fleeing the military operations launched by the regime and Russian forces. They, thus, sought refuge in less hostile areas, which incubate over two million civilians, the Syria Response Coordinators Group (SRCG) said, adding that IDPs live in 1277 camps, 366 of which are informal. 

Shortfall in Humanitarian Response within Camps under COVID-19:

Livelihoods and food security sector 49%

Water and sanitation sector  66%

Healthcare and nutrition sector 79%

Non-food items sector 54%

Shelter and housing sector 54%

Education sector 74%

Protection sector 70%

– Source: Director of the Syria Response Coordinators Group

In a statement, the Syrian Civil Defense, a volunteer civil defense organization that helps people affected by the war in Syria, said that the viral outbreak is haunting over four million Syrian IDPs in Idlib province and western rural Aleppo, as well as those in the camps spreading along the Turkish border strip, particularly day labourers, who are stuck in a state of anticipation and are obsessed with the pandemic and infection.  

Furthermore, people’s suffering has hit new extremes, for over a million persons live in camps that lack life essentials, according to statistics reported by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).

“In the camps, people struggle to earn themselves a single day’s living, particularly with the widespread virus, which cost a large proportion of people their source of income,” Dima al-Hak, a member of Idlib Province Municipality, said.  

Even though a COVID-19 outbreak in the Syrian displacement camps in rural Idlib and Aleppo will be a disaster, to apply social distancing inside the tents is out of question. However, many people are not scared of the pandemic, as much as they are concerned for their lives and safety. 

As the Syrian pound’s value crashed before the dollar, reaching an exchange rate of about 2500 Syrian pounds per dollar in July 2020, according to one currency conversion website, most of the markets were closed down, while prices spiked. Consequently, complaints increased among workers in camps and north Syria, who are tormented by economic and living crises alike.  

“My two daughters and I are coerced to work in the fields, getting 500 Syrian pounds each. We are trying to earn our bread money, after my husband and son lost their jobs at the olive factories due to the COVID-19 spread, which devastated our lives to the roots. Both my husband and son had jobs, and our finances were acceptable. However, after they stopped working, we had to work for a low wage that does not exceed 500 Syrian pounds. If the virus continues hitting us hard, we might even consent to work in return for 100 Syrian pounds a day,” Rama’s mother said, who is forty-something. 

On the same regard, a Humanitarian Situation Overview in northwest Syria, conducted by REACH Initiative in September 2019, scanning 1051 local communities, villages and towns in north Syria, stated that the majority of the Syrian families’ monthly income amounts to a staggering 50,000 Syrian pounds (about 25 dollars), while the income of 941 of the target communities does not suffice to cover the family’s food-related needs. 

To make do, the overview further reported, 80% of the families borrow money, 56% send their children to work, 22% reduce the size of  meals, 11% skip meals, and 10% offer their household assets for sale. 

Yousef Osman, a Syrian young man and a day labourer who sells vegetables in the city of Idlib, shares the demands of other workers: “We need some entities’ support to help us through these wretched conditions, caused by the spread of the virus and death.”

A report, published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on 13 July, stated that the COVID-19 impact was added to the repercussions of repeated displacement, persistent security threats, and instability due to local currency depreciation. These concerns boosted the burdens of the area’s population, amounting to 4.1 million persons, 2.8 of whom primarily depend on relief aid to live.    

The listed factors, the report claimed, induced a rise in the food parcel’s cost by 68% over a single month, thus threatening to push the rest of the area’s population below the poverty line, who would not be capable of affording their needs unaided.  

Concerns and challenges

Muhammad Da’boul (12 years) lives with his family in an informal camp in Atme, rural Idlib in north Syria. The family is extremely concerned over the precautionary measures adopted by the local authorities in Idlib province. 

As a wage earner, Muhammad used to make a daily 1000 Syrian pounds, with which his five-member family managed to get along. “I would shuck corn husks every day, boil them and then sell them in the camp. However, with the COVID-19 outbreak, people are no longer willing to buy. My customers went missing, for people are afraid of contracting the virus from vendors,” Muhammad said, his face overcome by confusion. 

An estimated 83% of Syrians are below the poverty line, according to the United Nations (UN) 2019 annual report, which assesses major humanitarian needs in Syria. 

Muhammad is one among thousands of Syrians who are now in desperate  need of assistance amidst  the rising prices of commodities in the market and the spiralling COVID-19 crisis. 

Local councils in Idlib, responding to the first positive COVID-19 case announced on 9 July 2020, made several statements, providing for banning weekly bazaars in al-Dana, Binish, al-Fu’a and Atme areas “until further notice”, seeking to prevent civilians from gathering. Nevertheless, the area, where three-quarters of the population are on relief aid, is now facing a reality no less threatening than the virus itself. 

Major Sources of Income in North Syria

Borrow money from family/friends 80%

 Reduce meal size 56%

 Children sent to work 22%

 Skip meals 11%

Sell household assets 10%

 

– Source: Humanitarian Situation Overview in Northwest Syria

– REACH Initiative / September 2019

Day labourers left to their own devices

Five months ago, Fatima Muhammad spent long hours behind a sewing machine in her tent in rural Idlib. That was her job for about three years, which she said made her the most happy. 

Sewing was Fatima’s source of income, but she is devoid of all resources today, as she cannot continue working. “I am a tailor. I made a living for the family; we asked no one for help. However, due to COVID-19, less customers are showing up. I am no longer capable of affording my needs or sewing tools and materials, such as needles and threads. I am also a heart and hypertension patient. The doctors have cautioned me against seeking another job,” Fatima said.  

Relating to sources of income, the Humanitarian Situation Overview in northwest Syria indicated that 85% of the people do not have stable jobs, depending thus on day labour, 84% work on the farms they own, 60% work in business and trade, 14% depend on remittances from outside Syria, and only 13% count on stable salaried labour. 

“In the camps, displaced workers, whose main source of income is day labour, are facing a living catastrophe today. Those, however, who work in workshops might be severely affected in two months, if the crisis inflates further,” lawyer Youssef Qadour said, who works with a local team to document violations against the rights of workers in north Syria. 

For her part, Dr. Dulama, SRCG director in northwest Syria, listed the key professions in the camps in north Syria: “The majority of the people are day labourers. Others, however, are either tailors or barbers, or work in sell-buy businesses.”   

Reporting on the purchase power index in Syria, Numbeo stated that it hit extremely low, scoring only 9.30 points out of a hundred.    

Further, the investigative unit interviewed a number of displaced day labourers, who lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 outbreak. They addressed the measures adopted in response and the ensuing repercussions, which aggravated unemployment and poverty rates among IDPs, who were already enduring dire humanitarian conditions before the outbreak and its consequences, which had a catastrophic negative impact on the camps, particularly. 

Residents of IDP camps in north Syria face challenging living conditions, in the absence of minimum resources and services, including water, electricity, sanitation and housing, according to the SRCG.

Eight families in the camps, selected randomly by the investigative unit, reported that despite losing their jobs, no organizations came forward to help day labourers, covering neither of their needs, especially ones related to relief and healthcare.   

 In the camps, key professions are farming, sewing, vending, building, shop keeping, transporting people,  hairdressing or selling commodities on stalls.

Dreading haunger

Under the COVID-19 crisis, the IDPs challenging condition effected a great shortfall in the humanitarian response within the camps, which amounted to 49% in livelihoods and food security sector, 66% in  water and sanitation sector, 79% in healthcare and nutrition sector, 54% in non-food items sector, 54% in  shelter and housing sector (providing tents to informal camps), 74% in education sector, and 70% in the protection sector, the SRCG reported. 

Over 5000 persons live in the al-Safsafe Camp in rural Idlib, north Syria, most of whom sought the camp in batches coming from al-Ghab Plain in 2013. They know no other profession but farming, given the nature of the area they fled.  

“Before the COVID-19 outbreak, over 40% of the camp’s residents had day jobs at olive and canned food factories. Their daily wages, however, did not exceed a 1000 Syrian pounds, which was acceptable and sufficient to support the family, for all the members worked in these factors. As the virus started spreading, the factories were shut down,  boosting unemployment and poverty rates in the camp, which already lacked healthcare and food aid,” the camp manager Wael al-Jasim said, describing the suffering endured by the day labourers. 

Mostly covered in blue tarpaulin, several informal camps rest between fields and hills, such as those in western rural Idlib, near the Syria-Turkey border in Jisr al-Shughur area. 

Set up in 2014, these camps shelter families that fled from rural Latakia and western rural Idlib. They all live in low-quality dwellings that turn into swamps in winter, while unbearable during the scorching summer.   

“We live in this tent, the eight of us,” Ahmad al-Barhou said, a thirty-something man, who lives with his family, while also taking care of his sister and her children. 

He pauses, and then adds: “My sister lost her husband during a Syrian regime air raid on our town in the Turkmen Mountain, rural Latakia. I made a living for my family, my sister and her children. I had a modest vegetables stall. My work stopped due to the coronavirus outbreak and the people’s inability to purchase as the Syrian pound crashed.”

Addressing purchase power, several financial overviews indicated that the living costs of a five-member-family is 300,000 Syrian pounds, or 200 to 250 dollars. Nevertheless, these figures are eight to 10 times less than the actual costs. 

Delivery

Before the outbreak, the camps’ people suffered from long-term unemployment, lacking money and job opportunities. But still, many of them are trying to forge themselves a chance and make a living to improve their life. 

To earn his living, Ghadeer al-Hamwi (29 years) transported passengers and delivered commodities aboard his motorcycle in the Atme Camp on the Syria-Turkey border. However, there are no errands to run these days. 

Standing next to his motorcycle, Ghadeer said: “I transported customers between the camps and to marketplaces for a bit of money, aboard my motorcycle that consumes little oil. The transportation fee is also less compared to cars. So, I had many customers before COVID-19. With the restrictions, preventative measures, and the distancing rules, as well as the rising concerns which accompanied the virus, the people stopped seeking my services. I ended up jobless.”

On 28 July, the Idlib Healthcare Directorate reported new cases, which brings the total case number to 29 in the area. 

The new confirmed case is in Idlib city, the directorate stated, while larger case numbers are in the two cities of Sarmada and Sarmin in rural Idlib, as well as near the camps in Azaz city, rural Aleppo.  

“Inside Syria, over 11 million people need humanitarian assistance, of whom over four millions are children,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, said in early March. 

In north Syria, Ghadeer and fellow day labourers wait for the COVID-19 crisis to end, to resume their jobs after a two-month interruption. 

Ghadeer, who by now sat on the ground near his motorcycle inside the camp, stressed that the condition of his family, consisting of four children, is tragic, while he is unable to meet their needs, or even make a living. “Work has stopped. Unfortunately, we are offered no assistance or food aid. A disaster is looming, a lot more dangerous than the virus. It is starvation,” he said.

The Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ)

The post “We Fear Hunger, Not Coronavirus”: The Syrian Camps’ Tragedy  appeared first on SIRAJ.

University students, engineers, activists, clerics, etc. died inside Syrian jails

Deaths during detention violating article 35 of the Syrian Constitution adopted in 2012,

“what lies behind leaking names of deceased prisoners?”, Analysts and humanrights activists answer

Damascus – Istanbul: 

It was deeply shocking for Zeina,30, to read ‘dead’ next to her husband’s name on the family record she had just got from the civil status department in al-Jisr al-Abyad district, downtown Damascus.

Zakariya,her husband, had beendetained in one of the secret jails of the Syrian security services since 2014 underfalse charges of opposing regime based on malicious allegations. Since then,Zeina has been dreaming of the reunite, but alas her dream has vanished.

Zeina stood still at the departmentexamining the record she got and muttering to herself,trying to find a reason for her husband’s death when an employee interrupted her by saying: “we know not the cause of death, our work is just to mere enter data we received in the computer

Not just me, there were manywaiting in a line outside the door to know the fate of theirloved ones. They were mostly women; mothers, sisters or wives of thedisappeareddetainees, each left the department weeping with papersblew all their hopes.”said Zeina.

Just like with Zeina, Um Khalid received news of the death of her son Khalid, 30s, who was arrested from al-Mezzeh neighborhood in Damascus late 2013 and held at the notorious prison of the Military Intelligence Branch 215, on charges of terrorismand incitement against regime, with being denied accessto any means of communication with his family.

“The first time I heard from my son was in 2014 when a former detainee informed meabout his whereabouts.While the secondand last was three months ago when I receiveda call from the Police Command, in Khalid Ibn al-Walid Street, Damascus, askingme to come and take my son’s personal effects. When I arrived there, they forcedmeto sign a paper saying that my son was kidnapped and killed by armed oppositiongroups”, Khalid’s mother recalled.

“Flurry of Syrian death certificatesresolved the fate ofthose disappeared since 2011 forprotesting against regime in several Syrian cities. Since last May,governmentstarted to deliver lists ofnames forthose died in detention to civil statusdepartments in Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, Al Hasakah. Thus, detainees’ families learnedof their sons’ death by chance, when they requested records from registeroffices. While other families latersearched paper and digital documents fornames ofdetaineesunaccounted for.”, a woman stated to the investigation group.

Deaths inside detention facilities after prolonged imprisonment without clear charges ortrials, even denying self-defense in accordance with fair trials standards,according to relatives of those deceased, violates article 53  of the Syrian Constitutionamended in February 2012, almost a year following the onset of the peaceful protests.

Article 53 reads

 1. No one maybe investigated or arrested, except under an order or decision issued by thecompetent judicial authority, or if he was arrested in the case of being caughtin the act, or with intent to bring him to the judicial authorities on chargesof committing a felony or misdemeanor.

2. No one may be tortured or treated in a humiliatingmanner, and the law shall define the punishment for those who do so.

3. any person who is arrested must be informed of thereason for his arrest and his rights, and may not be incarcerated in front ofthe administrative authority except by an order of the competent judicialauthority.

4. everyone sentenced by a finale ruling, carried outhis sentence and the ruling proved wrong shall have the right to ask the statefor compensation for the damage he suffered.  

Um Khalid wasn’t told about her son’s place of burial, but she was assured that he was “properlyburied”.

She received his personal effectsalong with a paper addressed to the civil status department to extract the death certificate officially. 

“According to the accumulated database, 127,593 Syrian citizens are still detained by the Syrian regime, including 81,652 citizens whohave become forcibly-disappeared between March 2011 and August 2018.”According to SNHR data.

The report documents 836 cases where the Syrian regimehas revealed that they all died. The report stresses that the Syrian regime did not mention the cause of death, deliver the dead bodies to their families, or reveal the death when it happened. According to the report, the 863 cases included no less than 22 popular uprising activists, 10 university students, 2 engineers, 3 athletes, 4 teachers, and 3 religious figures, all arrested in 2011 and 2012.

Crowded Civil registry departments

On a daily basis, dozens of families came andcrowdedat the personal status department in al-Thawra Street, downtown Damascus,to extract family or personal records to know the fate of their disappeared sons. “At least 10 death notices for detainees from different Syrian areas delivered to their relatives daily.” the investigation group stated.

The testimonies followed a detailed report published by Amnesty International entitled ” the Human Slaughter house: Mass Hangings and Extermination at Saydnaya Prison”As many as 13,000 people have been executed in Saydnaya Prison since 2011, inthe utmost secrecy. “Between 2011 and 2015, every week and often twice aweek, groups of up to 50 peoplewere taken out of their prison cells and hangedto death.”

Testimonies and documents obtained by the investigation group proved that the Syrian security authorities distribute death liststo the civil statusdepartments, which in turn extract death certificates.That make it complicatedfor the detainees’ relatives to conduct any legal procedure to define cause or location of their death or even to demand the recoveryof their remains, as the procedures taken inside security branches are top secret which make it impossible for the relatives to make formal complaints.

Families began discovering whathappened to their loved ones by chance, when they requested records fromregister offices.

If dead, no cause provided for his death; execution, torture, natural death, by anillness or like.

Natural Death

Civil status department in al-Tremseh village, Hama province, received lists of dead detainees in al Assad prisons who were arrested on July 12, 2012, the same day that the “Tremseh Massacre” was carried out by regime forces in an attempt to capture the village, claiming the lives of more than 100, according to al-Tremseh residents.

Ali, the eldest among the six sons of the detainee SayelHoyan al-Tabeh, 45, fromal-Tremseh stated:

“Despite the passage of more than 7 years since the arrest of my father, wekept hoping of his return. However, on Wednesday June 27, 2018 we were asked by the military security branch in Mahardah city, Hama,to check his status in the records of the civil status department, where we found that he was listed with the deadby “natural death”,without any further details like the date of his death. We have no evidence proves the death of my father under torture, as we didn’t receive his body.”

Ra’ad Zaki al-Ali, 40s, from Kafr Zita, Hama countryside, was detained while heading to al-HalMarket in Damascus to sell vegetables and fruits he carried in his vehicle, on February 2012, and hasn’t returned since then, as he was detained by the AirForce Intelligence Branch in Harasta city, northern Damascus and his vehicleseized

Ra’ad’s family received his arrest news from his co-worker and on June 13, 2018 theyread his name on the death lists released by civil status department in Hama

“We managed to obtain a death certificate,indicates that Ra’ad has died early in 2015”, the family said.

The timing ofdeath certificatesissuance

Consistent testimonies obtained from analysts, experts, and eyewitnesses, confirm that since early 2017,when the fate of Eastern Ghouta was determined, andwith the regime’s full control over Damascus and its suburbs backed by Russia, coupled with the complexityof the detainees’ issue which led to conducting inspections ofall security servicesprisons by patrols of Russian Generals and high-ranking Syrian officers to look into the detainees’ files, to count those diedto list them on burial lists, and those still alive with their photos and all information related to them. It was something like screening the dead and survived detainees’ files

Director of the SNHR,Fadl Abdul Ghani, said in a press release on August 27, it is almost possible to determine the Assad regime’s goal behind the release of these lists. He said that there were two hypotheses. The first one is that the Russians asked the Assad regime to release these lists with the aim of closing the page on the issue of detainees as it remains an obstacle to the political process. The second one is that the Assad regime wants to appear as winning the war and that it is time now to turn the page on the issue of detainees. 

After conducting the two- months statistics it was decided to consider the files of detainees who were not exist in prison tobe belong for dead.

Then it wassuggested the death lists to be circulated among mukhtars, civil status departments, Police Command, and the Ministry of Interior for to inform the detainees’ relatives of their death. Inmates who weren’t been living in Regime forces and who had no clear address,or a phone number written in their files, listed deadin the civil status departments’ records. On the other hand,the fate of inmates who are still alive in prisons and are estimated 220,000 citizens, has yet to be defined, according to SNHR in 2017.

The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights- ECCHR, an organization dedicatedtostrategic litigationworldwide, including gross human rights violationsinSyria, stressed the immediate and unconditioned release of all politicalprisoners and the urgent investigations into the death cases inside the Syrianbyan “independent body”.In case the officer in charge of a prisonsproved to be the perpetrators, they must be held accountable individually andinternationally.

Purposes of the Regime’s Actions

For Ali Rasheed al-Hasan, lawyer and head of the Free Syrian Lawyers Aggregation: “the regime currently is acting out of law leaving only a single explanationthat the it is attempting to evade the awful crimes its security services committed”. 

Why Syrian authoritiesissuing death certificatesat this time?

Anwaral-Boni, head of the Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Researches (SCLSR)answered:there are several potential targetssuch as the withdrawal ofthedetainees’ issue from the political alternationtobringit to the table in theapproaching Astana Talks, which Russia agreed on.

To prevent any attempt to formRed Cross or international committees aimed at uncovering the fate of thedetainees, as it took the step first.”Another possibleaim is ” to prevent opening judicial investigation in Syria and accusesome symbols of criminality whom role has ended in this war,in an attempt towithdrawthe justice file from the hands of the international or the European Judiciary.Absolutely, this will not work as an independent impartial judiciary is notavailable in Syria.

”Another possibleaim is ” to prevent opening judicial investigation in Syria and accusesome symbols of criminality whom role has ended in this war,in an attempt towithdrawthe justice file from the hands of the international or the European Judiciary.Absolutely, this will not work as an independent impartial judiciary is notavailable in Syria.

Evading Accountability

The Syrian regime trying to evade international accountability for the “horrifying” numbers of deaths and detainees in its jails by releasinglists of hundreds who were tortured to deathand circulating them among civil status departments, claiming different cause for their deaths to evade accountability especially with the emergence of a political solution to the Syrian crisis.”,Human rights activists report.

Lawyer Michel Shamas, a member of the defense of prisoners of conscience and consceience, said that”the leak of the names of detainees killed under torture to the civilianpopulation in the Syrian governorates is an attempt by the regime to evade theconsequences of the file of missing persons and detainees in its prisons.”

Records inciting retaliation

Youssef’s father was arrested by the regime forces in late 2012 form Daraya city, Damascus countryside and shot dead during detention, an inmate reported. “The summary executionof my father without returning his bodyor mentioning the cause all incite feelings of retaliation albeit we have displaced to north Syria” Youssef, 30,assailed recalling the last moments of his father’s arrest.

Many of those who had screamed to death, had children, maybe three or four. How will those children reconcile with the murderer of their fathers? Can such action leavea lasting impact on the population and incite retaliations,which would resulted in shake of the foundations of peaceful coexistence and long-term stability between the power and civil society? 

the regime’s killing of detainees in its jails is a form of genocide against Syrian youthswho possess lofty values, mainly freedom, and it is a horror without parallel in the history. Stating that “the collective memory of the population will always recall this calamity, with feelings of sorrow, rage and animosity against the perpetrator.”, said Ahmad Barkawi, a Palestinian researcher and former president of the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Damascus, stated to the investigation group

“Social coexistence sounds impossible in the foreseeable futurealbeit living in one place. I mean by “coexistence”the sense of belonging and the resulting relationships likemarriage and friendship andsharingfortunate and unfortunate occasions ” he added. 

Testimonies of former detainees or human rights reports have deeply affected the population especially the families and relatives of detainees “The community incurrently in shock and sorrow which engrave deep in hearts of mothers, fathers,children, relatives and in the community as a whole”, he concluded.

Recovering the remains

“The overwhelming evidence -of killings and torture of detainees in Syrian jails, collected by rights and international organizations, should be adduced to international tribunals not to national courts, in order to hold accountable those involved on the basis ofprinciple of universal jurisdiction which is applied in some countries like France, Germany and Spain along with some Scandinavian states. As competent counsel appointed who in turn communicate with the competent authorities and prepare case files in accordance with international standards.”, said Cecilia Pechmeze, the legal expert in Syrians for Truth and Justice/STJ, based in Istanbul, Turkey.

Pechmezegoes on to say that the death certificates constitute issued by the regime constituted, in principle, a clearrecognition of their death under the custody of the Syrian government. The factthat would be linked to other facts of the issue at stake, like testimoniesfrom detainees’ relatives who visited them in jails or from former detainees whohad shared the same cell with dead.”

With the issuance of lists of dead detainees in Syrian jails who had been forcefully disappeared for years, Syrian regime continues to deny that anything ever happened and thatit had committed any crimes despite the issuance of death certificates that weredelivered to the detainees’ relatives which is one of the incriminating evidences along with the continued denying institution and international commissions of inquiry access to those prisons.”

In a report asrecently as July 2018, Human Rights Watch says “if they are dead, thefamilies should be able to recover the remains and learn about thecircumstances of the death through an independent investigation. The Syriangovernment must not be allowed to escape without accountability.”

This report was completed by Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) and Damascus Voice in association with the Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism – (SIRAJ) Coached by Ali Ibrahim, Published on DARAJ.  

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