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The BBCThe new Syrian authorities promise justice for the crimes of the Assad regime. But this is a difficult task as many have suffered losses of all kinds in the civil war. Sebastian Usher met people in Damascus for whom justice is central to how they see Syria’s future.
On the edge of Douma, one of Damascus’ most war-torn suburbs, in a curtained living room by a stove, Umm Mazen recounts the 12 years she spent desperately searching for news of two of her sons, who were arrested in the early years of the uprising and civil war and absorbed by the Assad-era security system.
For her eldest son, Mazen, she finally obtained a death certificate, but for Abu Hadi, no trace of him was discovered.
Her third son, Ahmed, spent three years in the security system, including eight months in the red block for political prisoners in that synonymous with brutality, Saydnaya prison.
His front teeth seared by a torturer’s hammer, he recalls a moment when he believed he heard his brother Mazen’s voice answering a roll call in the same prison, but nothing more.
What justice does Um Mazen seek for the destruction of his family?
“There must be divine justice coming from God,” she says.
“I saw some local men leading a shabiha (armed regime supporter) to be killed.
“I told them, ‘Don’t kill him. Rather torture him in the same way he tortured our youths.’
“My two children died – or probably died, but there are thousands of other young men who were tortured.
“I pray to God that Bashar (al-Assad) remains in a dungeon underground and that Russia, which was protecting him, cannot help him.
“I pray to God that he hides him somewhere underground and remains in oblivion – just as he left our youth in his prisons.
Lawyer Hussein Issa sought justice for dozens of people accused of political crimes under Assad.
He faced constant pressure from the authorities because of his legal work, but he persevered and managed to save some of his clients from being smeared under the wheels of the security system.
But for those appointed to the special terrorism courts, usually nothing could be done.
The Terrorism Act loomed even more darkly over Syria as the civil war dragged on.
Now, with the mountain on the edge of Damascus visible from the window of his dingy, smoke-filled office, the 54-year-old lawyer says he believes many of the judges who were complicit with the Assad regime should be ousted and taken legal action against them.
But others from that era, he says, could still play a role in the new justice system.
As for the enormous challenge of trying to provide retrospective justice for the horrors of the past 50 years, Mr Issa says creating a justice system capable of doing so is the most important task for the new Syrian authorities.
“If this system is not good, the future of the new country will be bleak.
“We don’t know how bad it can get then. We are already afraid that some parties may cause discord and conflict.
“If we have a strong system and country, we will not be afraid of these things.
“If we don’t have them, we will be afraid. But being an optimist by nature, I think the new regime will definitely be better.”
The monumental building in the Syrian capital, which houses the Ministry of Justice, was halted for several weeks after the fall of Assad.
Groups of lawyers have now gathered in elevators and corridors ahead of the re-opening of civil and criminal courts.
In his fifth-floor office, Deputy Justice Minister Hitam Haddad says criminal and civil cases will be reopened, but the task of dealing with crimes committed under the previous regime will not be resolved for now.
With her large, heavy desk covered in official documents, she says she has been working as a judge since 2013.
She was appointed Deputy Minister of Justice in 2023. It remains in place for now.
“I felt a personal responsibility about it,” she says.
“It is necessary for the work to continue, for the judges to return to their work and the courts to return, because as a Syrian I want my work to continue and I want this victory to continue so that people have nothing to do.” be afraid of.
“I want to send real and realistic messages of confidence, not just talk.
But some lawyers are already troubled by the transition authorities’ decision to create a council to oversee the bar without putting it to a vote.
In a petition, they said such an approach would replace one form of authoritarianism with another.
For now, the Assad-era laws and judicial structure remain in place, including the terrorism law.
It may be a long time before the cases of any of those accused of crimes during the ousted regime come to court.
The new authorities have told Syrians not to take matters into their own hands as videos have been released of brutal summary justice meted out to some former officials.
There were actions and arrests – and some of those who fled across the border into Lebanon or Iraq were returned.
But a big question remains whether the justice system – so long an instrument of repression – is capable of being reconfigured to take on this enormous moral and logistical challenge.
High in the mountains above Damascus, Syrians, young and old, are still breathing freely for now – intoxicated by the cold, clean winter air – in a place they have been barred from by security forces for more than a decade.
In the cafes and kiosks that have sprung up in the weeks since Assad’s ouster, they look down on the city stretching out before them — both its dark memories and the promise of a different future, one where justice and accountability might just be allowed to play out. role.
