French prosecutor requests prison against Rifaat Al Assad

According to french newspaper "Le Parisien" Rifaat Al Assad, uncle of current syrian president Bashar Al Assad, faces a punishment of four years of prison and confiscation of the totality of his vast real estate realm in France.

Rifaat who had to go in exile in France after a botched coup against his brother, former president Hafez Al Assad, in 1984 has acquired assets in France worth 90 million Euros.

The french financial prosecutor (Parquet national financier) accuses Rifaat of money laundering, tax evasion and embezzlement of property of the syrian people.

Study: extensive torture against children in syrian detention

A shocking report by "Lawyers & doctors for human rights" about torture and sexual violence against children in Syria:

Even children are not safe from the systematic torture and sexual violence which is inflicted on detainees in Syria. By examining LDHR medical expert reports, we found evidence that Grave Violations were being committed against children in detention including killing and torture, sexual violence, arbitrary detention and potentially enforced disappearance (...) These children have been used as weapons of war to pressure and retaliate against the
people whose opinions and beliefs oppose the government’s policies and practices.

Among the abuses documented in Syrian government detention:
- a teenage girl who miscarried through fear and kept remnants in a plastic bag in her cell, another subjected to mock execution.
- A teenage boy raped and filmed by two guards, and then forced to watch the video.
- A 10 year old separated from her mother & held in solitary. Guards told her they had killed her mother (her father had died years back). Child was left crying and screaming her mother's name, thinking that she had no one left.

You can read the report via the below link:

http://ldhrights.org/en/?p=6421

Indictment of two syrian intelligence operatives in Germany

The Public Prosecutor of Germany has finished the bill of indictment against the two syrian intelligence operatives who were arrested in February in Berlin and Zweibrücken.


Anwar Raslan head of unit 215 of the general branch of syrian intelligence service is indicted for crimes agains humanity, rape and sexual assault.
Eyad al-Gharib who served in a subordinate branch of the same unit 215 is indicted for abetment of crimes against humanity.
Both defendants are in pretrial detention.

The bill of indictment is adressed to the state security senate of the Higher Regional Court of Koblenz waiting for admission.

See more info in the page of Public Prosecutor of Germany:

https://www.generalbundesanwalt.de/de/showpress.php?themenid=21&newsid=858 

See also:

https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2019/10/29/allemagne-deux-syriens-accuses-de-crimes-contre-l-humanite_6017308_3210.html 

 

Assad's journalist mouthpieces

Subsequent to the article about Nir Rosen Matt Johnson draws an interesting psychological profile of american journalist Max Blumenthaln in "Quillette": 

"This is the warped narrative Blumenthal peddled before, during, and after his trip to Syria: Forget about the Assad regime’s massacres of protesters and chemical attacks on children. Forget about the torture, rapes, and abductions. Forget about the Syrian Air Force’s joint operations with Russia, indiscriminate bombings of civilian areas, and the wanton destruction of hospitals, health clinics, and schools in Aleppo. The “dirty war” is always “imposed” on the regime from the outside, and Assad is just doing what any besieged leader would do—fighting back. This is why Blumenthal refers to the towns Assad has recaptured as “liberated”—an interesting way to describe territory and people back in the hands of a dictator who has slaughtered tens of thousands of his compatriots, and whose family has ruled Syria for half a century."

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://quillette.com/2019/10/26/tyrannys-mouthpiece/ 

Impending trial against Bachar's uncle Rifaat in France

French financial prosecutors have completed their investigations against Rifaat Al-Assad and transmitted the bill of indictment to the court. Rifaat who fled Syria in 1984 after an attempted coup against his brother Hafez and left Syria definitely in 1998 lives in Paris since then and has aquired a vast empire of property in Europe. 
He is accused of embezzlement, tax evasion and money laundering.


https://www.liberation.fr/france/2019/04/02/l-oncle-pilleur-de-bachar-al-assad-rattrape-par-la-justice-francaise_1719011 
 

Limburg truck-terrorist is former SAA soldier

Syrian man Omar A., who went on a failed truck-rampage in Limburg on october 7 2019 injuring eight, is a former solder of Syrian Arab Army reveals german newspaper BILD:

"Der Amok-Fahrer kam 2015 aus dem Bürgerkrieg nach Deutschland, lebte zuerst in einer Unterkunft in Marburg. BILD sprach mit Verwandten des Angreifers.Ein Cousin: „Omar war beim syrischen Militär.“ Heißt im Klartext: Er kämpfte für das Terror-Regime von Bashar Assad. Seit 2011 tobt in Syrien ein blutiger Bürgerkrieg. „2014 flüchtete er in die Türkei“, so der Cousin von A. weiter."

He left Syria 2014 and came to Germany in 2015. He had also previous criminal investigations for drug related offenses and for molesting a 16 year old girl.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.bild.de/bild-plus/regional/frankfurt/frankfurt-aktuell/verwandte-sprechen-in-bild-das-kranke-leben-des-limburg-attentaeters-65246478.bild.html

The profiteers of the war in Syria

A glance at the men who became wealthy during the 8-year war in Syria:

“There is a new class of wealthy war traders,” said Mazen, an Aleppo businessman from an old industrial family. The old guard call these people “new faces”. “We don’t know how they make money,” he continued. “Sometimes we ask ourselves if we’re in the wrong business.”

These individuals have made fortunes picking clean the carcass of the country’s economy. From melting down steel ripped from its shattered cities to brokering oil deals forbidden under international sanctions, to selling hotel rooms to aid workers, following the money leads us into the dark dealings of today’s Syria.

Their dramatic rise to fortune has also helped the regime to survive by keeping trade going, oil flowing and helping to fund pro-regime militias, even as the country lies in ruins around them."

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.ft.com/content/525ec4e4-e4a3-11e9-9743-db5a370481bc 

Case 26: flogging of a woman

Three men, one in fatigues and two in civilian clothing with trackpants and trainers, flog a bound person that lies on the floor with cables. The room is empty and a toolbox stands on a table. The video description claims the person to be a woman. Sources claim the location is in Hama. 

 

Case 25: "truck-bed"

Several militia men, mostly in T-Shirts and fatigues, two of them plainclothed flog and humiliate a young man lying on the ground of a truck-bed probably on a transfer to a detention facility. They also force him to pledge allegiance to Bashar al-Assad. At least two of the militiamen wear wristbands in the colours of the baathist syrian flag. The place can very likely be identified since many landmarks of the city are visible in the video.

 

Case 24: Beaten up by militia

A handcuffed man is beaten and mistreated by 4 militia or intelligence personnel. One of the perpetrators is wearing a purple poloshirt with the inscription "Qualified" or "Qualifeo" on the back. Another wears a blue Adidas baseball-hat.

 

Case 23: "face slaps"

A big corpulent soldier humiliates two apparently civilian middle-aged men by forcing them to face-slap each other.

 

The curious case of Nir Rosen

An interesting long-read on Nir Rosen, journalist turned shadow-diplomat for Syria:

"Whatever his motives, Rosen’s career in Syria shows how foreign policy works in the 21st century. The shapers of world events often hold no official portfolio, operating through channels that even those inside of government can’t always see or understand. Policy inputs originate far beyond any knowable org chart, and they result from furtive negotiations of access whose true parameters are unknown to all but the required few. At times, policy can resemble a kind of freelance spycraft by which decision-makers on multiple continents find and activate Rosen-like figures who are unencumbered by employment with any publicly accountable organization.

At that rare Moscow appearance, Rosen took some shots at the Assad regime, calling it “feudal” and “incompetent.” When he began criticizing Assad for lacking a post-conflict reconstruction strategy, Bouthaina Shabaan, the Assad regime’s longtime liaison to the Western press, walked out of the speech in dismay. According to attendees, Rosen did not seem perturbed.

“Look, the people Nir interacts with are much higher than Bouthaina,” says Randa Slim, the director of conflict resolution at the Middle East Institute and someone who attended the talk. “She is a political, civilized figure of the regime, and the people Nir interacts with are the ugliest security and intelligence people.”

Some of the most brutal and powerful officials in Damascus apparently saw Nir Rosen as a useful instrument. The question is why—and for what?"

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/290856/a-reporter-from-hell 

Case 22: Execution by firearms on the street

A lifeless man in civilian clothes apparently wounded by gunshot is lying on the street as armed personnels in army fatigues surround him, some of them sport white sneakers instead of army boots.
At least two of the armed persons shoot him with pistols. Location and context unclear.

 

Nicolas Tenzer: The war of extermination in Syria and the end of common sense

An almost three year old article but still worth a (re-) read. French scholar Nicolas Tenzer enumerates the failures of western countries in putting a stop to the mass killing in Syria he considers a war of extermination by now:

"Les opérations militaires d’Assad et de Poutine en Syrie ont un nom : c’est une guerre d’extermination. Celle-ci atteint désormais une échelle sans précédent : le bombardement délibéré des civils, notamment femmes, enfants et secouristes des Casques Blancs, ainsi que des hôpitaux n’est pas nouveau. Mais elle a désormais un caractère systématique avec un objectif clair : tuer, encore tuer, tout ce qui peut l’être. C’est une guerre totale dans laquelle la Russie de Poutine expérimente de nouvelles armes, comme ces bombes qui peuvent pénétrer les abris et les pulvérisent ensuite.
Beaucoup, y compris dans un propos sensible et poignant, l’ambassadeur de France auprès des Nations unies, ont fait à juste titre l’analogie avec Guernica : l’aviation de l’Allemagne nazie et de l’Italie fasciste avaient anéanti la ville tandis que les troupes franquistes agissaient au sol. En Syrie aussi, les avions russes dominent les airs tandis que les troupes de l’armée du régime et du Hezbollah soutenu et armé par l’Iran agissent à terre.
Cette guerre d’extermination est promise à s’intensifier dans les jours et les semaines qui viennent. Des crimes de guerre de plus en plus évidents et que la Russie ne cherche même plus à dissimuler s’ajoutent aux crimes contre l’humanité commis par le pouvoir d’Assad, notamment dans les prisons du régime où les tortures les plus sadiques sont une pratique courante."

You can read the piece via the below link:

http://theconversation.com/la-guerre-dextermination-en-syrie-et-la-fin-du-sens-commun-66342 

The fate of many forcibly disappeared is still unsolved

An interesting insight provided by PRI (Public Radio International) about the relatives of disappeared in Syria on their efforts to obtain information on the whereabouts of their loved ones.

It isn't clear how many Syrians have been detained and are missing. The Syrian government doesn’t release figures and it doesn't allow human rights groups to visit detention centers.

Last week, Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs at the United Nations, briefed the Security Council on the issue of detainees, abductees and missing persons in Syria.

She said more than 100,000 people have so far been detained, abducted or gone missing — largely, but not only, at the hands of the Syrian government.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-08-16/we-have-suffered-enough-say-families-missing-and-detained-syria 

Case 21: "empty warehouse"

Very gruesome video where a ragtag bunch of militia men partially wearing fatigues and hoodies as well as tracksuits stab an agonising bound man, then mutilate and finally shoot him.
One of the perpetrators wears a noticeable black hoodie with green inscriptions on the back (the logo on the back mentions "but", which can also designate a (football-) goal in french).