Behind the Curtain: Unravelling the Bureaucracy of Syria’s Machinery of Death
Today CIJA releases its latest evidence-based report, detailing how the Syrian Regime’s command and control mechanisms orchestrated a matrix of mass arrests, torture, enforced disappearance and murders.
Today CIJA releases its latest evidence-based report, detailing how the Syrian Regime’s command and control mechanisms orchestrated a matrix of mass arrests, torture, enforced disappearance and murders. Using documents issued by the Syrian Regime the report portrays a narrative of unhinged power, laying bare the extreme measures taken by the Regime to maintain its iron grip on the nation, through an intricate web of orders, instructions, circulars, reports and studies that flowed through its chains of command.
Read the report “BEHIND THE CURTAIN: UNRAVELLING THE BUREACRACY OF SYRIA’S MACHINERY OF DEATH”
We know who created Syria’s torture programme and how
CIJA Director of External Relations, Nerma Jelacic describes the Syrian Regime’s command and control structures and how they were mobilized with brutal and deadly force to repress protests…
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/12/18/we-know-who-created-syrias-torture-programme-and-how
CIJA Director of External Relations, Nerma Jelacic describes the Syrian Regime’s command and control structures and how they were mobilized with brutal and deadly force to repress protests and uprisings across the country in this Opinion for Al Jazeera, referring to internal documents generated by the Regime and collected by CIJA investigators.
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/12/18/we-know-who-created-syrias-torture-programme-and-how
The Secret Life and Anonymous Death of the Most Prolific War-Crimes Investigator in History
[The New Yorker] “When Mustafa died, in the earthquakes in Turkey, his work in Syria had assisted in the prosecutions of numerous figures in Bashar al-Assad’s regime.”
[The New Yorker] “When Mustafa died, in the earthquakes in Turkey, his work in Syria had assisted in the prosecutions of numerous figures in Bashar al-Assad’s regime.” In this devastating article for The New Yorker, Ben Taub recounts his life, his undoubted contribution to truth, justice and accountability for the hundreds of thousands of Syrians who perished or suffered at the hands of the Syrian Regime, and his untimely death in the 6 February earthquake with his beloved family.
Rest In Peace Mustafa, Rola, Tala, Hanin, Mays and Omar
The Strangulation of Homs
Homs was at the heart of the Syrian revolution, serving as an example and inspiration to Syrians across the country. People from different walks of life, ethnicities and religious groups came together to call for the fall of the Assad Regime.
Homs was at the heart of the Syrian revolution, serving as an example and inspiration to Syrians across the country. People from different walks of life, ethnicities and religious groups came together to call for the fall of the Assad Regime. Documents collected by CIJA’s Syrian investigators demonstrate the premeditated response of the Syrian Regime, who quickly escalated its suppression of protesters to a tightly organised crackdown of extreme brutality.
A small selection of those documents – issued by the senior-most members of the Syrian regime – are published in this report, which details the Regime’s response from the first days of protest through to the siege of Baba Amro.
READ THE REPORT: https://cija-syria-homs.org
خنق حمص
هذه قصة خنق النظام السوري لحمص، المدينة التي وُلدت من رحمها الثورة و التي أعطت كوكبة من الأبطال الذين بذلوا ارواحهم، و من بينهم مصطفى نائب قائد فريق التحقيقات بسيجا.
هذه قصة خنق النظام السوري لحمص، المدينة التي وُلدت من رحمها الثورة و التي أعطت كوكبة من الأبطال الذين بذلوا ارواحهم، و من بينهم مصطفى نائب قائد فريق التحقيقات بسيجا. يكشف هذا التقرير و من خلال عينة صغيرة من وثائق النظام السوري و التي حصل عليها محققو سيجا، الطريقة المتعمدة التي اتبعها النظام من أجل سحق آمال أبناء حمص بتحقيق الديمقراطية، منذ الايام الاولى للاحتجاجات و لغاية فرض الحصار على باب عمرو.
اقرأ التقرير: https://cija-syria-homs.org
The videos ISIS didn’t want you to see: How grainy security footage could help hold abusers to account
Exclusive CNN report by Mick Krever and Jomana Karadsheh on CCTV footage collected and analysed by CIJA
Exclusive CNN report by Mick Krever and Jomana Karadsheh on CCTV footage collected and analysed by CIJA, showing months of ISIS movements from within the Aleppo Children’s Hospital, which it had occupied in 2013.
Read the exclusive report:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/05/middleeast/isis-video-investigators-netherlands-intl-mime-cmd
US lawmakers file bill urging accountability for Assad government
Al Jazeera coverage of “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked”: “Last month, war crimes investigators concluded that the Syrian government had deployed “shabbiha”
Al Jazeera coverage of “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked”: “Last month, war crimes investigators concluded that the Syrian government had deployed “shabbiha” militias to clamp down on dissent, using methods such as torture and sexual violence against perceived opponents.”
Asymmetrical Haircuts Justice Update – Syria Missing and Disappeared
Includes a summary of CIJA’s report on Syrian Regime paramilitaries “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked” alongside updates of the International Court of Justice torture case and the recent creation of Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic.
Listen to the podcast: https://www.asymmetricalhaircuts.com/episodes/justice-update-syria-missing-and-tortured/
Read “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked”: https://cija-syria-paramilitaries.org
Includes a summary of CIJA’s report on Syrian Regime paramilitaries “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked” alongside updates of the International Court of Justice torture case and the recent creation of Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic.
Listen to the podcast: https://www.asymmetricalhaircuts.com/episodes/justice-update-syria-missing-and-tortured/
Read “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked”: https://cija-syria-paramilitaries.org
US lawmakers file bill urging accountability for Assad government
Al Jazeera coverage of “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked”: “Last month, war crimes investigators concluded that the Syrian government had deployed “shabbiha” militias to clamp down on dissent, using methods such as torture and sexual violence against perceived opponents.”
Al Jazeera coverage of “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked”: “Last month, war crimes investigators concluded that the Syrian government had deployed “shabbiha” militias to clamp down on dissent, using methods such as torture and sexual violence against perceived opponents.”
Syrie : révélations sur les chabiha, tueurs à la solde du régime Assad
“Ces documents, écrits de la plume même du régime, sont la prevue qu’il s’est appuyé sur ses groups dès la premier jour réprimer les manifestations et écraser les rebelles” commente Nerma Jelacic, directrice à la CIJA.
“Ces documents, écrits de la plume même du régime, sont la prevue qu’il s’est appuyé sur ses groups dès la premier jour réprimer les manifestations et écraser les rebelles” commente Nerma Jelacic, directrice à la CIJA.
How Syria’s Assad Regime Created Their Paramilitary Killers
“A new report, by the war crimes investigators of the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, documents how the highest levels of Syria’s Assad regime“ planned, organised, instigated and deployed” paramilitary units to crush a nationwide uprising from March 2011.”
Read the full report here: https://eaworldview.com/2023/07/syria-assad-regime-paramilitary-killers/
“A new report, by the war crimes investigators of the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, documents how the highest levels of Syria’s Assad regime“ planned, organised, instigated and deployed” paramilitary units to crush a nationwide uprising from March 2011.”
Read the full report here: https://eaworldview.com/2023/07/syria-assad-regime-paramilitary-killers/
Exclusive: Syrian regime organised feared ghost militias, war crimes researchers say
Reuters correspondents Stephanie van den Berg and Maya Gebeily’s exclusive review of CIJA’s report “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked” which includes seven documents created by the Syrian Regime which help to show that the highest levels of Syria's government planned, organised, instigated and deployed the Shabbiha from the start of the war in 2011.
Reuters correspondents Stephanie van den Berg and Maya Gebeily’s exclusive review of CIJA’s report “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked” which includes seven documents created by the Syrian Regime which help to show that the highest levels of Syria's government planned, organised, instigated and deployed the Shabbiha from the start of the war in 2011.
ASSAD’S GHOSTS UNMASKED: CIJA evidence demonstrates clear link between paramilitary gangs and the Regime’s chain of command
Documents secured by CIJA and produced by various Syrian State entities demonstrate the Regime’s incremental reliance on brutal paramilitary gangs to enforce the governments’ crackdown on peaceful protesters and later, to attack the civilian population. Amidst CIJA’s collection of over one million pages of documents are documents which detail the growth of the paramilitary organisations from small or neighbourhood level loyalist groups to a well-organised militia.
Some of this evidence is released today in a report – ASSAD’S GHOSTS UNMASKED – revealing how the highest levels of the Syrian Regime planned, organised, instigated and deployed these paramilitary groups in order to assist the State’s crackdown on the opposition.
READ THE REPORT: https://cija-syria-paramilitaries.org
Documents secured by CIJA and produced by various Syrian State entities demonstrate the Regime’s incremental reliance on brutal paramilitary gangs to enforce the governments’ crackdown on peaceful protesters and later, to attack the civilian population. Amidst CIJA’s collection of over one million pages of documents are documents which detail the growth of the paramilitary organisations from small or neighbourhood level loyalist groups to a well-organised militia.
Some of this evidence is released today in a report – ASSAD’S GHOSTS UNMASKED – revealing how the highest levels of the Syrian Regime planned, organised, instigated and deployed these paramilitary groups in order to assist the State’s crackdown on the opposition.
READ THE REPORT: https://cija-syria-paramilitaries.org
Human Rights Press Awards Winner 2023: Reuters Special Report on Myanmar military’s planned purge of the Rohingya
The Reuters Special Report on the Myanmar military’s planning of its deadly purge of the Rohingya won the investigative feature writing category of the Human Rights Press Awards, drawing on CIJA’s four-year long investigation into crimes against Myanmar's minorities by the Burmese Armed Forces.
The awards recognise excellent investigative reporting on important issues in the mass media and are organised by Human Rights Watch, the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University and The Reynolds Center for Business Journalism.
Read the award-winning Special Report: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/myanmar-rohingya-warcrimes-investigation/
Read CIJA’s report on its investigation: https://cija-myanmar.org/
Information on the awards: https://humanrightspressawards.org/
The Reuters Special Report on the Myanmar military’s planning of its deadly purge of the Rohingya won the investigative feature writing category of the Human Rights Press Awards, drawing on CIJA’s four-year long investigation into crimes against Myanmar's minorities by the Burmese Armed Forces.
The awards recognise excellent investigative reporting on important issues in the mass media and are organised by Human Rights Watch, the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University and The Reynolds Center for Business Journalism.
Read the award-winning Special Report: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/myanmar-rohingya-warcrimes-investigation/
Read CIJA’s report on its investigation: https://cija-myanmar.org/
Information on the awards: https://humanrightspressawards.org/
Syrian War Crimes Investigator Loses Life in Earthquake
CNN’s Turkey Correspondent, Jomana Karadsheh Scott pays tribute to CIJA’s Deputy Head of Investigations in Syria, who, along with his wife and four children perished in the earthquake on 06 February 2022. He truly was “an unsung hero and a man who risked his life for his Syria” whose tireless skills as an investigator have already contributed to accountability in Syria in so many ways.
Watch the report here:
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/03/01/exp-jomana-karadsheh-pkg-030110aseg2-cnni-world.cnn
CNN’s Turkey Correspondent, Jomana Karadsheh Scott pays tribute to CIJA’s Deputy Head of Investigations in Syria, who, along with his wife and four children perished in the earthquake on 06 February 2022. He truly was “an unsung hero and a man who risked his life for his Syria” whose tireless skills as an investigator have already contributed to accountability in Syria in so many ways.
Watch the report here:
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/03/01/exp-jomana-karadsheh-pkg-030110aseg2-cnni-world.cnn
Mustafa HOMS. 1 November 1975 – 6 February 2023
بالعربية
It is with the deepest sorrow that we announce the death of our Deputy Chief of the Syria Investigations Unit, Mustafa, and his family. Mustafa, his wife Rola, their beautiful children Tala, Hanin, Mays and Omar all perished in the devastating earthquake that struck North-Western Syria and Turkey on 06 February 2023.
Mustafa was an integral part of CIJA’s investigative team, joining the very first cohort of investigators in 2011. He was a passionate advocate for accountability and believer in justice. He was a beloved team leader and a visionary, not losing hope even in the darkest moments of a cruel war that has ravaged his homeland.
Mustafa was from Ar Rastan, Homs which is where his investigative journey began. A trained lawyer, he was a highly skilled international crimes investigator who secured enormous troves of evidence inside Syria. Over the last twelve years he has made invaluable contributions to the quest for truth and justice about atrocities against the Syrian people, not least to the case of Colvin v Syrian Arab Republic which established the truth about the brutal campaign of sniping and shelling of the people of Homs in 2012. Mustafa will be remembered for the great compassion, empathy, and dedication with which he carried out his life’s work.
His legacy will live on.
Above all, Mustafa was a devoted family man. “When I am with them, there is no war,” he was known to say. He lived and breathed for his wife and children, always striving to secure a better future for them.
Mustafa will be dearly missed by his friends, family, and colleagues.
بالعربية
It is with the deepest sorrow that we announce the death of our Deputy Chief of the Syria Investigations Unit, Mustafa, and his family. Mustafa, his wife Rola, their beautiful children Tala, Hanin, Mays and Omar all perished in the devastating earthquake that struck North-Western Syria and Turkey on 06 February 2023.
Mustafa was an integral part of CIJA’s investigative team, joining the very first cohort of investigators in 2011. He was a passionate advocate for accountability and believer in justice. He was a beloved team leader and a visionary, not losing hope even in the darkest moments of a cruel war that has ravaged his homeland.
Mustafa was from Ar Rastan, Homs which is where his investigative journey began. A trained lawyer, he was a highly skilled international crimes investigator who secured enormous troves of evidence inside Syria. Over the last twelve years he has made invaluable contributions to the quest for truth and justice about atrocities against the Syrian people, not least to the case of Colvin v Syrian Arab Republic which established the truth about the brutal campaign of sniping and shelling of the people of Homs in 2012. Mustafa will be remembered for the great compassion, empathy, and dedication with which he carried out his life’s work.
His legacy will live on.
Above all, Mustafa was a devoted family man. “When I am with them, there is no war,” he was known to say. He lived and breathed for his wife and children, always striving to secure a better future for them.
Mustafa will be dearly missed by his friends, family, and colleagues.
Articles of War Symposium on Prosecuting War Crimes: “Evidentiary Challenges” contribution by Chris Engels
In his contribution to the Symposium, CIJA’s Director of Investigations and Operations Chris Engels provides a clear-sighted summary of the experiences and challenges of gathering and authenticating evidence in combat zones, drawing on CIJA’s long-standing investigations into the armed conflict in Syria. Engels identifies several crucial measures necessary to ensure the robust collection and authentication of evidence, including:
· Awareness and continuous monitoring of the security situation and risks posed to the investigation and to different team members;
· Preparing appropriate collection plans that include clear goals, objectives and risk-thresholds;
· Ensuring safe transit of materials out of the conflict zone with procedures that are realistic and consistent;
· Maintaining the integrity of information including through proper chain of custody record keeping;
· Preserving and authenticating materials;
The post is drawn from the remarks made by Chris Engels at an expert workshop convened by the Lieber Institute for Law and Warfare in partnership with the U.S. State Department Office of Global Criminal Justice and the United States Institute of Peace in late 2022. According to a summary provided by Professor Sean Watts and Jennifer Maddocks the workshop addressed “the practical difficulties that arise when charging, prosecuting, and defending against war crimes charges, as well as investigative and evidentiary challenges in mass-crime contexts. The workshop additionally addressed the acute problems of guaranteeing both protection and justice to victims, particularly when those victims are situated in cultural settings that are unfamiliar to the international and private organizations that increasingly conduct war crimes investigations and prosecutions.”
Read the post here: https://lieber.westpoint.edu/evidentiary-challenges/
In his contribution to the Symposium, CIJA’s Director of Investigations and Operations Chris Engels provides a clear-sighted summary of the experiences and challenges of gathering and authenticating evidence in combat zones, drawing on CIJA’s long-standing investigations into the armed conflict in Syria. Engels identifies several crucial measures necessary to ensure the robust collection and authentication of evidence, including:
· Awareness and continuous monitoring of the security situation and risks posed to the investigation and to different team members;
· Preparing appropriate collection plans that include clear goals, objectives and risk-thresholds;
· Ensuring safe transit of materials out of the conflict zone with procedures that are realistic and consistent;
· Maintaining the integrity of information including through proper chain of custody record keeping;
· Preserving and authenticating materials;
The post is drawn from the remarks made by Chris Engels at an expert workshop convened by the Lieber Institute for Law and Warfare in partnership with the U.S. State Department Office of Global Criminal Justice and the United States Institute of Peace in late 2022. According to a summary provided by Professor Sean Watts and Jennifer Maddocks the workshop addressed “the practical difficulties that arise when charging, prosecuting, and defending against war crimes charges, as well as investigative and evidentiary challenges in mass-crime contexts. The workshop additionally addressed the acute problems of guaranteeing both protection and justice to victims, particularly when those victims are situated in cultural settings that are unfamiliar to the international and private organizations that increasingly conduct war crimes investigations and prosecutions.”
Read the post here: https://lieber.westpoint.edu/evidentiary-challenges/