Searching for the Missing in Post-Assad Syria: Lessons from the Investigation of Mezzeh Military Airport
Syria Justice and Accountability Centre
Working towards a Syria defined by justice, respect for human rights, and rule of law.
Washington, DC: 02/27/2025
“SJAC’s latest report provides the first comprehensive investigation into the Mezzeh Military Airport, a key facility referenced in the Caesar torture photos, where over 28,000 Syrians were imprisoned and thousands more disappeared” said the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre after the launch of the report, which was produced in collaboration with the Association for the Detainees and Missing Persons of Sednaya Prison (ADMSP).
The report relies on SJAC's investigative process originally developed to search for individuals disappeared by ISIS in Northeast Syria. “SJAC’s and ADMSP’s exclusive access to Assad government sites and documents helped us link prison facilities to previously unknown gravesites,” said Gabriel Young, SJAC’s Missing Persons Investigator. “This work provides a model for missing persons investigations in post-Assad Syria."
“The Assad government covered up over a decade of systematic torture, executions, and dangerous conditions at Mezzeh. We believe some of the victims who died at the facility were buried in several nearby mass graves which likely contain hundreds, if not thousands, of unidentified remains,” said Shadi Haroun, Program Manager at ADMSP.
?A future missing persons process in Syria will need to use contextual investigations, like the one detailed in the report, to link prisons to their associated mass graves, allowing for the identification of human remains. SJAC and ADMSP’s search method reconstructs events leading up to detainees’ deaths and determines where they are likely buried to allow for targeted and accurate DNA testing.
“The Mezzeh Military Airport is just one of many prison sites spread across the country,” said Bassel Berrow, an SJAC researcher who contributed to the report. “Our investigation concluded in the days following the collapse of the Assad government, giving SJAC’s team in Damascus unprecedented access to the Mezzeh facility. We were able to see with our own eyes the gravesites where some of the Mezzeh detainees are likely buried, with the help of personnel who previously worked at the airport. Investigations like these are essential for the long-term effort to identify the fate and whereabouts of the missing and bring justice to their families.”?
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?The Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC) is a Syrian civil society organization working towards a Syrian state defined by justice, respect for human rights, and the rule of law, where citizens from all components of Syrian society live in peace without fear. Its mission is to promote justice and accountability in Syria by ensuring that human rights violations are comprehensively documented, and that documentation data is securely preserved, cataloged, and analyzed to advance transitional justice and peacebuilding.
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For inquiries in Arabic and English, please contact:
?Gabriel Young
Missing Persons Investigator
Cell Phone: +1-574-850-9975
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Michael Ader
Communications Officer
Cell Phone:?+1-801-970-3065