Researchers saw documents being taken from buildings and people digging up remains in unsupervised mass graves, including a leg with flesh still attached 

HTS-affiliated Syrian Salvation Government gave Amnesty and others assurances that vital evidence would be preserved

‘Every additional minute of inaction heightens the risk that a family may never discover the fate of their missing loved one’ - Shadi Haroun

The transitional Syrian authorities should take urgent steps to secure and preserve evidence of atrocities committed under the government of former President Bashar al-Assad - including key government and intelligence documents as well as the sites of atrocities and mass graves - Amnesty International, the Association of Detainees and the Missing in Sednaya Prison (ADMSP) and Human Rights Watch said today. 

Researchers from the three organisations visited Damascus during 10-20 December, visiting a combined total of ten detention facilities, the sites of seven mass graves and the military court.

In all of the detention facilities, the researchers saw that official documents were left unprotected, with significant portions looted or destroyed. Local residents, former detainees and members of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham said that in some cases security and intelligence personnel burned key information before they fled as the Assad government fell. 

In some cases, they said armed groups who took control of the facilities and detainees who had just been freed, burned and looted documents. The researchers also observed various people, including families of missing detainees and journalists, taking documents.

These documents may contain vital information about the structure of the Syrian state’s security and intelligence apparatus, the identity of those responsible for serious crimes and details about the detainees held in various locations. 

ADMSP, Amnesty and Human Rights Watch raised these concerns during a meeting with members of the HTS-affiliated Syrian Salvation Government’s political affairs department in Damascus on 16 December. The three organisations also emphasised the importance of securing the sites of the mass graves across the country. Researchers visited the sites of four mass graves on the outskirts of Damascus and shared the coordinates of the sites with the relevant authorities. In all four sites, researchers observed local residents and families of the disappeared trying to dig up remains. At one mass grave researchers saw local residents dig up a leg that still had flesh on it, indicating it had been buried recently. During the meeting, officials promised to strengthen security around key facilities. 

Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director, said:  

“After decades of brutal oppression, injustice and impunity, Syrians finally have a glimmer of hope for justice. This is a pivotal moment for Syria’s transitional authorities to act decisively and ensure the preservation of evidence as a cornerstone for accountability and reconciliation.”

Shadi Haroun, ADMSP’s Programme Manager, said: 

“Every additional minute of inaction heightens the risk that a family may never discover the fate of their missing loved one, and an official responsible for horrific crimes may never be brought to justice.”

Hiba Zayadin, Human Rights Watch’s Senior Middle East Researcher, said:

“The families of Syria’s tens of thousands of forcibly disappeared deserve an end to their torment. Many of the answers to what happened to their loved ones are likely to be found in ransacked offices, looted documents or disturbed mass grave sites. It is vital for Syrians to hear directly from transitional leaders about their dedication and commitment to uncovering the truth and delivering answers to the families of the disappeared.” 

Coordinated effort needed

Syria’s transitional authorities should clearly and publicly commit to securing, collecting and safeguarding evidence, including from mass grave sites and government records and archives. This will require a coordinated effort, including cooperation with the relevant UN bodies, the International Committee of the Red Cross and specialised Syrian civil society organisations. Evidence of crimes left behind will be essential to establish the fate of more than 100,000 Syrians who were forcibly disappeared by the former government’s notorious security and intelligence apparatus, as well as in investigating and prosecuting the perpetrators of crimes under international law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. After urgently securing these locations and ensuring that the remaining evidence is not tampered with, the transitional authorities should coordinate with - and immediately give unfettered access to - the international fact-finding and evidence collection bodies created by the UN. These should include the Independent, Impartial Investigative Mechanism, the International Institution for Missing Persons, and the Commission of Inquiry on Syria. The Investigative Mechanism should act swiftly to secure evidence, including by establishing a formal agreement with the transitional authorities to operate legally and transparently in Syria. It needs to prioritise the immediate preservation, documentation and securing of mass grave sites, archives and other vital evidence. Similarly, the Missing Person’s Institution could step into a coordinating role to unify fragmented efforts by Syrian and international civil society groups to secure evidence. By leading a collaborative and systematic evidence preservation process, both bodies can ensure vital documentation is safeguarded, laying the groundwork for accountability and justice. Governments should support efforts to secure and safeguard evidence, including by providing necessary resources and funding. 

Reprisal killings must be stopped

To ensure accountability and build trust in their governance, the transitional authorities should also put a stop to reprisal killings, making clear that such crimes will not be tolerated. They should also address concerns about arbitrary detention in areas under their control. This includes providing independent monitors access to HTS-controlled detention centres and ensuring every detainee is under judicial supervision. Transparency in how detainees are treated and held is essential to demonstrate a clear break from past patterns of repression by all parties to the conflict in Syria, and to signal to Syrians that the cycle of arbitrary detention and abuse will not be repeated. 

Decades of abuses

In 2017, an Amnesty report on Saydnaya prison found that that the bodies of executed detainees or who those who had died from torture or inhumane conditions were buried in mass graves, including at one of the locations ADMSP, Amnesty and Human Rights Watch researchers visited earlier this month. Under the former government, the authorities rarely returned the remains of victims to family members and rarely informed them of their loved one’s death. The government of ousted president Bashar al-Assad used extrajudicial executions in conjunction with other unlawful tactics, such as arbitrary arrests, deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians and starvation of the civilian population, to forcibly displace residents of opposition-held areas over the course of the war. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty have documented the systematic use of torture under the previous government as a crime against humanity.