By Vivian Yee
The downfall of Syria’s 54-year Assad regime has unveiled countless grim truths.
Prisons are now devoid of inmates, revealing the torture devices used against peaceful demonstrators and perceived adversaries of the state. Volumes of official records document the existence of thousands of detainees. Mortuaries and mass graves contain the emaciated and battered bodies of victims, or at least some of them.
Numerous others remain unaccounted for.
In light of these and numerous other atrocities, Syrians are calling for justice. The rebel coalition that deposed President Bashar Assad in December has promised to seek and hold accountable senior figures of the regime for offenses that include murder, wrongful imprisonment, torture, and the use of chemical weapons against their own populace.
“Most Syrians believe true closure can only be achieved by bringing these individuals to justice, thus ending this dark 54-year chapter,” stated Ayman Asfari, chair of Madaniya, a coalition of Syrian human rights organizations and civic groups.
However, even if the new authorities succeed in locating suspects, holding them accountable will be difficult in a nation as fragile, polarized, and ravaged as Syria. The experiences of other Arab nations that faced similar despotic regime collapses highlight the obstacles: None—be it Egypt, Iraq, or Tunisia—were able to achieve comprehensive and enduring justice for past crimes.
Syria also faces unique challenges. The nation’s new effective leaders are from the Sunni Muslim majority, while the upper echelons of the ousted regime were predominantly Alawite, a religious minority. This reality means that prosecutions concerning Assad-era offenses could exacerbate sectarian tensions in Syria.
For years, the justice system served primarily as a tool for Assad, rendering it ill-prepared to address extensive and intricate human rights violations. Many thousands of Syrians could potentially be implicated, exceeding the capacity for prosecution, which raises concerns about managing lower-tier officials.
After years marked by war, sanctions, corruption, and mismanagement, it is an immense challenge just to assess the devastation while transitioning to a new governing body.
Currently, nine out of ten Syrians live in poverty. Urban areas are in ruins. Many homes have been obliterated. Tens of thousands have been unjustly imprisoned for extended periods. Hundreds of thousands have died in the conflict. Many more remain unaccounted for.
According to Nerma Jelacic of the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, Syrians will require time and extensive dialogues to establish a robust accountability framework.
“Such processes take time and rarely occur overnight,” she remarked.
Nevertheless, there is immense pressure on Syria’s new leadership to initiate proceedings against former officials, and the transitional authorities in the capital, Damascus, have committed to doing so.
“We will unwaveringly pursue accountability for the criminals, murderers, and security and military personnel responsible for torturing the Syrian populace,” asserted Ahmad al-Sharaa, Syria’s de facto leader, in a Telegram post in December. He also indicated that they would soon release “List No. 1” of senior officials “involved in torturing the Syrian people.”
Tracking down such individuals will be challenging, if not impossible. Assad has taken refuge in Russia, which is not likely to hand him over. Several of his top allies have reportedly gone into hiding, with some believed to be in Lebanon or the United Arab Emirates.
Nevertheless, Syrian human rights organizations in exile have been preparing for over a decade, compiling evidence for prosecutions in other nations—and, they hope, eventually in Syria itself.
Fernando Travesí, executive director of the International Center for Transitional Justice, which has collaborated with Syrian groups, cautioned that before initiating prosecutions in Syria, the government should first cultivate citizens’ trust by establishing a state that fulfills their needs.
This approach would help avoid the pitfalls experienced by countries like Tunisia, where a lack of economic advancement post-2011 Arab Spring revolution left many citizens frustrated and disillusioned. By 2021, Tunisians had turned against their emerging democracy, supporting a president who has become increasingly authoritarian. Efforts to bring members of the feared security services and regime loyalists to justice have effectively stagnated.
“Any truth, justice, and accountability initiative must arise from credible institutions that the populace trusts; otherwise, it is futile,” warned Travesí. He added that providing essential services would help Syrians perceive the government as “not merely a tool of oppression, but one that addresses my needs.”
The transitional administration can take fundamental yet crucial actions, such as assisting refugees in obtaining new identification, addressing issues surrounding property seized or occupied during the conflict, and ensuring reliable electricity and water supply. Delivering humanitarian aid and implementing economic improvements will be necessary, though often reliant on support from other nations.
Additionally, it must execute these tasks impartially; otherwise, Syrians may view accountability efforts as politically motivated or selective. Following the ousting of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2003, the U.S.-led occupation and successive administrations purged and blacklisted even low-ranking members of the previous ruling party without due process, damaging trust in the emerging system, according to analysts.
“The only pathway to mend the rifts with other communities is to ensure they are fairly represented,” Asfari remarked.
The Syrian authorities are indicating that they recognize this need. They have repeatedly asserted their commitment to upholding minority rights and have promised amnesty to rank-and-file soldiers compelled to serve in Assad’s military. Most government staff have been allowed to remain in their positions to maintain institutional functionality.
“Any legal action must be handled properly, or it will appear as mere vengeance,” stated Stephen J. Rapp, a former international prosecutor and U.S. ambassador for global justice who has been involved in addressing Syrian abuses for over ten years. “Such an approach is vital for reconciling society and alleviating impulses for revenge, particularly against the offspring of those who committed these offenses.”
Compounding the situation, many critical documents required for future prosecutions have been damaged amidst the chaos following Assad’s fall—regime prisons and intelligence agency archives have been vandalized, looted, or incinerated, asserted Jelacic.
Due to Syria’s ongoing wartime sanctions, her organization and others working to preserve these essential documents for potential court use face challenges operating throughout much of the country, further endangering their efforts.
The wartime mass graves and torture instruments stand as only the most evident confirmations of the abuses perpetrated under the oversight of Assad and his father, Hafez.
In some way, virtually every Syrian has suffered due to the previous regime. Therefore, merely prosecuting individuals for acts committed during the civil war is inadequate, according to veterans of justice initiatives in other nations that have undergone political transformations.
Jelacic indicated that Syria will require a wider evaluation of the Assad regime’s legacy that “does not exacerbate divisions, but rather fosters healing.”
Before any trials commence, experts recommend that Syria overhaul its police and judicial systems and develop a legal infrastructure to address rights violations, possibly establishing a specialized tribunal to prosecute the most severe offenses. An equally pressing task is to determine the fate of the approximately 136,000 individuals still missing after being detained by the Assad regime and to identify the remains found in mass graves.
However, Syria cannot afford to delay prosecutions of former regime officials for too long. Delays in official justice may provide opportunities for aggrieved individuals to take action into their own hands, potentially triggering cycles of violence and exacerbating sectarian divisions. Reports of isolated acts of revenge and threats against minorities who were aligned with the Assad regime have already surfaced.
