The investigation aims to hold accountable Syrian officials who are thought to be the main designers of a barbaric system of torture and detention that has thrived under President Bashar al-Assad.
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By Mehran Mazari
An American humanitarian worker was severely tortured for months by Syrian prison authorities who also threatened to kill her family members. In the end, she gave in to their pressure and admitted to crimes she had not committed. She was sentenced to death in late 2016 after a brief trial that lasted only a few minutes.
When the American administration remained conspicuously silent regarding the death of the humanitarian worker, Layla Shweikani, 26, human rights activists and lawmakers were incensed. Her case never received the same level of attention as other American citizens who were kidnapped abroad, such as Brittney Griner, a professional basketball player who was imprisoned in China, and Austin Tice, a freelance journalist covering the war in Syria who was kidnapped outside of Damascus in 2012, Jason Rezaian, a reporter for The Washington Post, who described being subjected to psychological abuse and sleep deprivation after he was released from an Iranian prison in
But according to four people with knowledge of the investigation, the Justice Department has been covertly looking into Ms. Shweikani's homicide for five years, under the direction of the U.S. attorney in Chicago. In order to gather massive amounts of data and speak with potential witnesses, including the guy who may have buried Ms. Shweikani, F.B.I. operatives travelled to Europe and the Middle East. A grand jury was called by federal prosecutors, and it has been hearing testimony.
The investigation, which has not previously been reported, aims to hold responsible top Syrian officials, including Jamil Hassan, the head of the Air Force Intelligence Directorate at the time Ms. Shweikani vanished, and Ali Mamlouk, the head of Syria's National Security Bureau intelligence service. Both were considered key architects of the brutal detention and torture system that has flourished under President Bashar al-Assad.
The first time that the United States has criminally accused top Syrian officials of the precise human rights abuses that Mr. al-Assad has long denied using to quell opposition is if a federal indictment accuses the men of committing war crimes. Even if it's improbable that the men will be found, a conviction would show that the US wants to hold the Syrian regime accountable. In response to violations like violence against civilians, the United States has already put sanctions on Mr. al-Assad and members of his closest circle, including Mr. Mamlouk and Mr. Hassan.
There have been very few international efforts to hold top Syrian officials accountable for war crimes committed during the more than ten-year conflict. Few of the offenders have faced legal action, heightening the stakes of any potential accusations and putting diplomatic ties to the test. Indictments might "personalise the evil of this regime and make it clear you can't do business with Assad," according to former ambassador James F. Jeffrey, who now serves as the Trump administration's special envoy for engagement in Syria.
Al-Assad has slowly made his way back onto the international scene, despite the fact that it is widely accepted that his security forces have worked to systematically crush any challenge to his totalitarian regime. A small number of Arab nations, led by the United Arab Emirates, are attempting to reintegrate Syria into the international community. The White House has refuted charges that President Biden is subtly abandoning the attitude of prior administrations that no country should ever deal with Syria. And after a devastating earthquake struck Syria in February, Western countries have cooperated more amicably with Mr. al-Assad's administration to distribute supplies.
An indictment, according to Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the advocacy group Syrian Emergency Task Force, would deliver an unmistakable message. "No one should normalise relations with a regime that has killed an estimated 500,000 to a million people, including Americans and Europeans, and that continues to do so," he declared.
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The New York TimesMohamed Shweikani, the father of Ms. Shweikani, responded, "I want nothing to do with running your story or the F.B.I." when asked to comment for this piece or if the F.B.I. had gotten in touch.
Justice Department and F.B.I. spokeswomen declined to comment.
Ms. Shweikani visited her family in Syria when she was a little girl. According to her LinkedIn profile, she graduated from Arab International University with a degree in computer technology in 2012. After working as a software engineer for a few years, she moved to Damascus in 2015 from a suburb of Chicago to join a grassroots network of humanitarian relief volunteers. Al-Assad, however, has strict control over all official aid initiatives in his nation and has considered citizen-run initiatives as a danger by accusing them of terrorism.
Witnesses later related to Justice Department investigators how Syrian guards had threatened to kill Ms. Shweikani's father and fiancé while torturing the woman, who had only been jailed for a few days. Finally, the guards coerced her into making a fake confession on crimes against the state, including terrorism.
She is thought to have suffered some of the worst mistreatment at the Mezze detention facility, which was then under Mr. Hassan's command. After being detained in 2012 as part of the government's onslaught on Homs, formerly the centre of the opposition to Mr. al-Assad, one former inmate recalled the harsh conditions there.
Mohamed, who requested to only be named by his first name out of concern for retaliation, stated that he was naked, tied, and wearing blindfolds. "Your cell is so crowded that you have to sleep upright. You are oblivious to the time. But you are aware that you are constantly on alert for torture. He had lice and scabies, and his skin was becoming worse. Others perished from malnutrition and asphyxia. Some inmates perished from gangrene caused by mutilations and amputations.
He was held by his wrists with his feet just off the ground while guards beat him alternately and left him dangling for hours to hear the screams of adults, children, and women as they were being attacked.
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The New York TimesHe said, "I confessed to anything they wanted me to.
Ms. Shweikani was eventually transferred to the Adra jail, where the Obama administration sent Eva Filipi, the Czech ambassador, to speak with her in December 2016 after cutting off all diplomatic ties with Syria. According to two former diplomats, Ms. Shweikani informed Washington officials that she believed Ms. Shweikani had confessed while being tortured.
However, Ms. Shweikani was moved to the Saydnaya military jail in late December before the United States government could take action. She was found guilty following a brief field trial. Authorities think she was hanged. She passed away on December 28, 2016, at 7:07 am, according to a government document that the Syrian news website Zaman Al Wasl was able to get.The public was informed of Ms. Shweikani's passing by Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger, a Republican, during a hearing on Syria held by the House Foreign Affairs Committee in 2018.According to Mr. Kinzinger, "She became the first American citizen that we know of to be killed by the Assad regime," and "Whatever response the administration decides to take will shape how the regime and its backers treat other Americans."
Ambassador Jeffrey stated during the hearing that Ms. Shweikani passed while "in Syrian government hands."
According to two people familiar with the conversation, President Donald J. Trump informed Republican legislators at a private White House meeting four months later that he was unlikely to retaliate against a massacre carried out by the Syrian government. Despite the fact that human rights organisations have evidence to back up claims of torture and death, Mr. Trump claimed he was hesitant to bring up the issue due to Mr. al-Assad's assertions regarding aid workers and radicalism.
The bigger issue was conclusively connecting Syria's highest intelligence officials to Ms. Shweikani's torture and murder, even though investigators had acquired plenty of evidence to place her in the jails and testimony about her horrific treatment. However, they made progress, partly because to Syrian activists, victims, and nonprofit organisations that have been gathering proof of Syria's actions for years.
While Ms. Shweikani was at Mezze jail, at least one prisoner said that they saw Mr. Hassan there. Mr. Mamlouk's signature and stamp were found on the gravedigger's paperwork granting him permission to bury the corpses removed from Syria's prisons. In a conversation with The New York Times, he said that Mr. Hassan had ordered his work.
A military communications device was used to summon him almost every night to meet tractor-trailers carrying corpses to mass graves. According to him, there were moments when it was difficult to open the truck due to internal deterioration pressure.
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The New York TimesThe bodies were tipped into large pits by the trailers. Numerous bodies poured out. Due to starvation, some people seemed skeletal. Others were gushing with emotion. The gravedigger remarked, "I would see a flood of pieces. "Me and my team would have to get those who got stuck on the ledge into the hole," he said. Days passed while the odour persisted in his tongue and nose.
However, the Saydnaya bodies were distinct because they came in automobiles, a few dozen at a time. The gravedigger remarked, "Their bodies were still warm, just executed." "I frequently observed the noose's mark on their necks as well as their bound hands and legs. They were consistently bare.Years have been spent by prosecutors in France and Germany building cases against Mr. al-Assad's lieutenants, highlighting some of the challenges in bringing criminal charges against those responsible for crimes in nations like Syria.
Anwar Raslan, a Syrian colonel, was given a historic life sentence in January 2022 by a German court for crimes against humanity, including torturing more than 4,000 Syrian captives. A warrant for Mr. Hassan's arrest was issued by German authorities in 2018, but he has not yet been taken into custody.
In connection with the murder of two men who held dual French-Syrian citizenship, authorities in France indicted and issued arrest warrants for Mr. Mamlouk and Mr. Hassan in March.
It is quite doubtful that Mr. Hassan and Mr. Mamlouk would enter a nation ready to extradite them to the United States if the Justice Department brought charges against them. Human rights advocates disagree, arguing that the prosecution would still be useful in learning more about the ongoing crimes in Syria."Assad is still in power," declared Clémence Bectarte, an attorney with the International Federation for Human Rights who defended the two victims' families in the most recent indictment from France. "At the moment, prosecutions are the only way for victims to express their desire for justice."
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| Image Source - Google | Image by <br><a href= The New York Times |
