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Syria regime detained children until 18 before executing them under ‘terrorism’ law, investigation reveals

October 29, 2024 at 8:39 pm

Injured children are taken to hospital after an attack by the Syrian army in Idlib, Syria on October 06, 2023 [İzettin Kasım – Anadolu Agency]

The Syrian regime under President Bashar Al-Assad has been detaining children until they reach the age of 18, after which it then executes them, a new investigation has revealed.

According to an investigative report by the Syrian Investigative Journalism Unit (SIRAJ), since the outbreak of protests and the Syrian resolution in 2011, Syrian authorities have arrested and detained minors without trial until they reach the legal age of execution – 18 years old – at which point they then transferred them to military field courts to be sentenced to death.

A team of investigative journalists and researchers reportedly used inside sources, exclusive interviews with victims’ families, as well as open sources such as social media posts and groups, to obtain a list which included the names of 25 Syrian children who were disappeared as minors, later referred to military field courts, and received death sentences.

Through those sources, the investigative team confirmed that all the children in that list were forcibly disappeared by Syrian regime forces and security services. Those children were also subjected to the confiscation of movable and immovable assets, despite the fact that they were minors at the time of their arrests.

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The team was also able to confirm the death of 24 out of the 25 detainees, following the death sentences issued against them by the military field courts. In addition, it also found that the Syrian regime adopted illegal methods to issue death sentences against child detainees based on its ‘Anti-Terrorism Law’ of 2012.

That list is a small excerpt of the true number of such children kidnapped, detained and executed by the regime once they reach age. One unnamed source with knowledge of the matter – and who had spent three years of his compulsory military service in the military police responsible for transporting detainees, their files and mail – revealed to the investigative team that he had witnessed over 6,000 cases of detainees under 18 years old who had been sentenced to death. According to that source, even that number is an underestimation of the total amount, as other officers assigned for the same tasks likely oversaw more such detainees.

“The referral of detainees to military field courts clearly reflects the absence of the rule of law in Syria,” according to the lawyer, Muhannad Sharabati, who serves as the legal officer at the Support Unit of the NGO the Syrian Legal Development Program (SLDP). “The executive authority, represented by the head of the regime, completely dominates the legislative and judicial authorities, which leads to the application of exceptional laws and courts that do not adhere to international legal standards, such as military field courts.”