On 05 March 2026, CIJA and Temple Garden Chambers hosted a panel discussion, “The Future of International Criminal Law in a Changing World,” at The London Library in what was a thoughtful and engaging evening.

CIJA’s Executive Director Bill Wiley joined The Torontonian Podcast, where he discussed the moral and physical courage of CIJA’s Syrian investigators, who spent 14 years collecting evidence of the Assad regime’s brutality during the civil war.
Listen here: https://torontonianpodcast.ca/ep207/

One year after Syria’s liberation, CIJA honours the resilience of its people and the courage of survivors. We also reflect on the years of quiet, often clandestine work of 40 Syrian men and women that make up CIJA Syria to secure evidence and preserve the truth about the atrocities committed by the regime. In this video CIJA’s Shadow Warriors talk about their dangerous work to unmask Regime perpetrators during the war. As Syria moves forward, our commitment remains focused on assisting the Syrian quest to rebuild and strengthen the institutions that will lead the country’s transition to justice. 

CIJA was honoured to organise the visit of our partners from the National Police of Ukraine to the United States last week.

The delegation met with Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI at the Human Rights and War Crimes Center, exchanging insights on innovative methods that combine advanced technologies with traditional investigative practice to document war crimes.

They also briefed the U.S. Helsinki Commission, contributing to essential dialogue on accountability, evidence collection, and the pursuit of justice.

CIJA is proud to facilitate these engagements and to strengthen the collaborative efforts needed to advance justice and accountability for atrocity crimes and is grateful to the Department of State and INL for their support

(Al Jazeera) Hasan Al Hariri, CIJA Syria Director spoke with Al Jazeera’s Sandra Gathmann and Harriet Tathman about the work undertaken by CIJA’s Syrian investigators to collect and preserve more than 1.3 million pages of Assad Regime documents, often at great danger, during the conflict.

On 06 December, CIJA participated in the “Syria Ukraine Workshop on Ending Impunity and Strengthening Civil Society” organised by the Syrian Emergency Task Force, Madaniya and PIJ Lab, in Damascus.

Leading human rights defenders from Ukraine shared their experience in documenting crimes, supporting survivors and building justice mechanisms during wartime, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk, PIJL co-founder Nataliya Gumenyuk and Crimean Tartar activist Leniie Umerova.

Hasan Al Hariri, CIJA Syria Director joined the Ukrainian human rights activists, where he discussed different approaches to war crimes documentation and justice. Drawing on CIJA s experience in both Syria and Ukraine, Hasan called for the shift of focus to rebuilding the national institutions in Syria which will ultimately bear the responsibility for delivering accountability and transitional justice.

CIJA stands ready to support the Syrian efforts to design effective transitional justice mechanisms and is in discussion with the relevant authorities about concrete help that can be offered in the short and long term.

(Qantara) Hasan Al Hariri, CIJA Syria Director spoke at length to Andrea Backhaus on the challenges that transitional justice institutions face in Syria and the urgent need for assistance:“More resources are urgently needed... Syrian investigators and judicial officials still face a severe lack of equipment and resources.”

Yesterday, Austrian authorities indicted the former Syrian Brigadier General Khaled Al-Halabi and Mussab A. R on charges of torture, serious bodily harm and sexual coercion.  Al-Halibi’s indictment comes ten years after the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) located him in Vienna and shared relevant materials with the Austrian authorities.

Hasan Al Hariri, CIJA’s Syria Lead Investigator spoke to Al Jazeera’s Sandra Guthmann about the work of his team to preserve 1.3 million Syrian Regime documents. Once a ‘shadow warrior’ working anonymously, she says “this man risked his life to help smuggle 1.3 million documents out of the country with the aim to hold Assad to account”

Watch the full documentary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SFG-nYisDg

or the excerpt of Hasan here: https://x.com/AJEnglish/status/1985720137870192755

‍ ‍

On 16 October 2025, the Council of Europe launched the report “Comparative Practices on the Use of Information Collected in Conflict Zones as Evidence in Criminal Proceedings.”

Read the full report here: https://edoc.coe.int/en/terrorism/12088-comparative-practices-on-the-use-of-information-collected-in-conflict-zones-as-evidence-in-criminal-proceedings.html

The Islamic State’s campaign against the Yazidi community – and other minorities – was driven by an ideology of extermination and enslavement which was controlled through a highly-organised and well-regulated bureaucracy.  A new TOAEP policy brief by Stephanie Barbour and William Wiley explores how evidence gathered from IS’s own records by CIJA investigators has contributed to a growing number of prosecutions in Europe.

On 29 September 2025, the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) published a public summary of its report detailing the widespread destruction and dispossession of Rohingya land and property by the Myanmar military during its 2017 "clearance operations" in Rakhine state.

Read the IIMM Report Summary “The Destruction and Dispossession of Rohingya Land and Property During the 2017 Clearance Operations” here:

https://iimm.un.org/sites/default/files/2025/09/Land%20Report%20Public%20Summary%20EN.pdf

Read more about CIJA´s investigation here: https://cija-myanmar.org/

Damascus, 27 August 2025 — CIJA had the honour of welcoming the UK Minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer, to its Damascus office today, recognising over twelve years of dedicated work documenting atrocities committed during the conflict in Syria.

The Minister met with the two lead Syrian investigators Hassan Al Hariri and Husam Sarif who have worked tirelessly often at great personal risk and without public recognition for more than twelve years. Their efforts, along those of over 40 other Syrian CIJA investigators, have been central to preserving evidence of crimes, ensuring that truth and justice remain within reach for the Syrian people.

This week, CIJA leadership met with the Syrian Minister for Justice in Damascus. During the meeting, Minister Dr. Muzhir al-Wis and Dr William Wiley (Executive Director), Hasan Al Hariri and Husam Sharif (CIJA Lead Investigators in Syria) discussed strengthening cooperation on accountability and justice initiatives, taking a step forward to build trust and advance the rule of law.

For over a decade their names were not known, their faces never seen. Now the war is over, and they can speak. Hasan Al Hariri and Husam Sharif are the investigators that lead the CIJA teams, who for years worked in the shadows, securing critical evidence of Regime crimes. They worked silently and diligently, without recognition, because their safety and mission required it. In this short documentary, they speak for the first time about their work in the past and their hopes for the future.

Watch Shadow Warriors:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VYRnUmwbD4

CIJA Syria team took part in the official events to commemorate the 30^th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On Wednesday, CIJA´s lead Syrian investigators, Hassan Al Hariri and Husam Sharif stepped out from the shadows to speak about their work securing critical evidence of the Assad Regime crimes in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Standing in front of an international network of journalists, artists, historians, researchers and activists gathered for the annual WARM festival commemorating war reporting, art and memory Hasan and Husam  gave voice to the courage and dedication of over 40 of their colleagues who have spent years documenting war crimes and crimes against humanity inside Syria.

SANA, Damascus | A delegation from The Commission for International Justice and Accountability(CIJA), visited the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) and met with a number of its staff, and gave a presentation on the commission’s most prominent tasks, statistics, and documentation of crimes and violations perpetrated by the Assad ousted regime over the past years.

 Read more:

https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=354588

BBC | Bill Wiley, Executive Director of the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, joined Nick Robinson on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme to discuss the current security situation in Syria, aired on 01 May 2025.

 https://youtu.be/ZhmtwOYr-xs

Sana News, Damascus | The Annual Global Justice Award conference was held Wednesday to honor honoring of US Ambassador for War Crimes Stephen Rapp.

https://sana.sy/en/?p=354052

From CIJA LinkedIn:

 “CIJA is proud to share that our Chair, Ambassador Stephen Rapp, has been recognised for his outstanding contribution to advancing justice in Syria. This honour reflects his unwavering commitment to accountability and exposing the former regime’s crimes against the Syrian people. Our heartfelt thanks to all of our partners and communities whose continued support makes this work possible. CIJA remains steadfast in our mission to help build a just and peaceful Syria grounded in the rule of law.”

Sky News | Report on the conviction and life sentence of Mehdi Nemmouche, a terrorist linked to Daesh, by the Paris Special Court. Nemmouche and four others were convicted for kidnapping and holding four journalists hostage. CIJA played a vital role in securing this conviction by providing physical evidence and courtroom testimony.

https://news.sky.com/story/five-jihadists-found-guilty-of-holding-french-journalists-hostage-13333290

Globe and Mail | Detailed interviews with "Adel", CIJA’s Chief Investigator in Syria and Bill Wiley on the opportunities to preserve evidence now available across the country, by Mark Mackinnon

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-syria-bashar-al-assad-regime-war-crimes-case/

Andalou Agency | “There is hope that those future accountability and justice processes will be happening in Syria” Nerma Jelacic spoke to Rabia Ali

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/1-million-files-how-one-group-is-helping-expose-syrian-regime-s-war-crimes/3448994

New York Times |Nerma Jelacic and Stephen Rapp spoke with Vivian Yee about the accountability choices facing Syria:

"Syrians will need time and many discussions to design a sound accountability process, said Nerma Jelacic of The Commission for International Justice and Accountability, which has been gathering evidence against Syrian regime figures for years."

Volkskrant | [Dutch] William Wiley spoke to Remco Anderson about the role of justice in ensuring accountability for the scale of the Syrian Regime’s crimes:

"Assad's Regime was comparable to Stalin's Gulags".

 https://www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/zij-willen-assad-vervolgen-zijn-regime-was-vergelijkbaar-met-de-goelags-van-stalin~bf009cc5/