Syria to name justice commission including women, Alawites, Kurds, Christians

Al Arabiya

5 hours ago

Syria will soon announce the members of the National Commission for Transitional Justice, official sources have told Al Arabiya.
The announcement will come in a presidential decree issued by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and will include women as well as members from the Alawite, Kurdish, Christian, and other communities that make up Syria's diverse population.
The sources, who requested anonymity, said the commission has proposed and forwarded several names to the presidency. The commission was created last May by order of the president to pursue transitional justice and hold accountable anyone proven to have committed crimes against the Syrian people during the rule of former president Bashar al-Assad, particularly after the outbreak of the Syrian uprising in 2011.
The sources added that the president's office will finalize the list of members, which will be officially named through a presidential decree.
According to the sources, a technical committee vetted all qualified candidates for the role – including judges and legal professionals, men and women – drawn from all sects and backgrounds. More than a hundred individuals were considered.
The commission will operate under presidential authority, giving it both the scope and flexibility to bring to justice anyone proven to have committed crimes – regardless of where they are, inside or outside Syria.
The sources stressed that the names were chosen with care, deliberately avoiding any sectarian or ethnic quota system, so such a precedent would not become embedded in Syrian political life.
The commission's president, Abdul Basit Abdul Latif – appointed by al-Sharaa – told Al Arabiya last week that channels of communication had been opened with Interpol and all relevant international bodies to pursue members of the al-Assad family and others proven to have engaged in torture, killings, and other crimes against the Syrian people.
Syrians are awaiting a presidential decree in the coming days to formalize the commission's membership, paving the way for it to pursue al-Assad regime figures found guilty of crimes against Syrians.
A core mission of the commission will be to provide material compensation to Syrians who suffered harm. This includes establishing a fund to aid the families of those killed, victims of massacres or disability, people whose homes were destroyed, detainees tortured in al-Assad-era prisons, and those forcibly disappeared. The commission's mandate extends beyond financial aid to psychological and social support programs designed to reintegrate victims into society and ease the trauma inflicted by the former regime and its associates.
The commission has vowed to prosecute anyone found responsible for crimes, violations, or incitement against Syrians. This includes those who justified or participated in the al-Assad regime's crimes, such as Hezbollah fighters, militias involved in mass killings, certain institutions or businessmen, and all others who profited from Syria's 14-year crisis.
According to Abdul Latif, this judicial-political body aims to reform and restructure the justice system, which he described as plagued by 'injustice and corruption.' His criticism also extended to prisons and military and security institutions, which he said must be reshaped to uphold human rights and avoid abuses, ensuring all Syrians are subject to the same laws regardless of sect or political affiliation.
The commission's formation was informed by meetings with Syrian victims and their representatives, civil society organizations, and international bodies, as well as a wide range of academics, legal experts, and national figures.
The commission also studied numerous international examples to design a body capable of delivering transitional justice across all of Syria – without excluding any sect, group, or ethnicity – based on the principle that all citizens must be equally subject to the law of the state.