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The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘We'll keep fighting': search persists for priest thought to be murdered on Pinochet torture ship
In the weak winter sunshine forensic investigators in white suits cast long shadows as they stepped between gravestones at Playa Ancha cemetery in the Chilean coastal city of Valparaíso. But as the rhythmic click of spades and the throb of an excavator faded, a third search for the remains of Michael Woodward reached a frustrating conclusion. No trace has ever been found of Woodward, an Anglo-Chilean priest who is thought to have been murdered on the Esmeralda, a Chilean navy corvette which Gen Augusto Pinochet's bloody regime used as a floating torture centre after its coup d'état on 11 September 1973. But almost two years since the Chilean state assumed responsibility for finding the missing victims of Pinochet's regime for the first time, cautious, methodical progress is being made. 'The fact that they managed to carve out a space for a permanent, ongoing public policy commitment is no mean feat,' said Dr Cath Collins, director of the transitional justice observatory at Diego Portales University in Santiago. In August 2023, the National Search Plan for Truth and Justice became an official state policy, with the aiming of centralizing information, finding the remains – or trace the final movements – of 1,469 disappeared people, and seeking reparations for their families. In the harrowing, uncertain days after Pinochet's coup, Miguel Woodward, as the tall, cheerful priest was known to his Chilean friends, laid low in the valleys around the city. Born to an English father and Chilean mother in Valparaíso and educated in the UK, he had returned to Chile to become a priest, joining a leftist political movement under the banner of socialist president Salvador Allende's Unidad Popular coalition. Early on 22 September 1973, Woodward was kidnapped from his home by a navy patrol and taken to the Universidad Santa María, which had become a makeshift detention centre. He was beaten and submerged in the campus swimming pool, before being transferred to a naval academy and then on to the Esmeralda, where he is thought to have died of the injuries sustained under torture. 'That's when our search began,' said Javier Rodríguez, 58, an affable, wild-haired construction worker with an unbreakable will to find the priest he remembers vividly as a family friend. Rodríguez founded the Friends of Miguel Woodward organisation, and has set up a cultural centre in Woodward's name, a narrow room a few doors down from where the priest was abducted, where a faded poster promoting the National Search Plan is stuck in the window. 'If Miguel were alive now, he would be marching for Palestine, for the Mapuche [Indigenous people], for all injustices,' he said. 'They murdered him because they were afraid of him.' Since democracy returned to Chile in 1990, human rights cases have made halting progress through the Chilean courts. Woodward's sister, Patricia, was able to file a case in 2002, but it was soon closed for lack of evidence. Eventually, when it was reopened on appeal, 10 low-ranking officers were implicated in his torture. Two were convicted, but neither ever served jail time. Michael Woodward's final moments have been pieced together from eyewitness accounts and testimonies, but those of many others have not – and activists fear that time is running out. 'The easy cases are all done,' said Dr Collins, 'Some of the people who might have been going to talk have died.' In Chile, the armed forces have long tried to obstruct progress, either by remaining silent or handing over partial or misleading information. Progress has been achingly slow. 'The state never did enough to find any of the disappeared, but now the resources are there,' said Rodríguez. 'Maybe the [search] plan came late, but it represents the state coming to settle its debts.' Searches are being carried out at 20 sites up and down the country, but as yet, no finds have been made – and some fear that progress could soon be checked. 'Of course there is going to be disappointment that there haven't been any big discoveries yet, but if the plan survives the next administration, that's almost an achievement in itself,' said Dr Collins. In November , Chileans will vote in a presidential election in which three of the four current leading candidates offer rightwing agendas to replace leftist president Gabriel Boric, who ratified the national search plan. Woodward's last home, painted bright blue, still stands on a Valparaíso street corner; neighbours still use 'Miguel's house' as a reference when giving directions. And despite its dark history, the Esmeralda is still in service in the Chilean navy. It is frequently picketed by protestors at ports around the world, returning periodically to haunt its victims from Valparaíso's wide bay. Chile's forensic medical service says that further searches for Woodward's body will be carried out in the cemetery in Playa Ancha imminently. 'If we find Miguel, the fight doesn't end there,' said Rodríguez. 'He lived with us and we have a history with him, but he's just one of those we are missing – there will still be hundreds more to find.' 'We'll keep fighting until we have justice, whatever that may look like.'
Asharq Al-Awsat
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Syrians React to Decrees on Transitional Justice, Missing Persons
The opening of an art exhibition titled 'The Disappeared and Detained: A Creative Memory' at the National Museum in Damascus on Sunday coincided with a presidential announcement on the formation of two bodies tasked with transitional justice and uncovering the fate of Syria's missing. Syrian Culture Minister Mohammad Al-Saleh told Asharq Al-Awsat that the newly issued decrees, particularly the one concerning the forcibly disappeared and missing persons, mark 'a restoration of dignity through completing the picture.' 'There can be no genuine culture without truth,' he said, adding that uncovering the fate of the missing is a form of restoring dignity. He described art exhibitions addressing the issue as a reminder that 'art is part of people's lives' and a means of 'participation and healing on all levels.' The halls of the National Museum in Damascus have turned into a platform for ongoing national dialogue over transitional justice and the fate of Syria's missing, a debate that has gained renewed momentum since the fall of the regime. The launch of the exhibition coincided with President Ahmed al-Sharaa decreeing to establish two bodies: one for transitional justice and another to investigate the fate of missing persons. Visitors and participants expressed mixed reactions, according to comments gathered by Asharq Al-Awsat. Some voiced optimism about the decrees, while others said they would withhold judgment until the outcome of the newly formed committees became clear. Several called for the inclusion of families of the missing, victims, civil society groups, and human rights organizations that have long worked on the transitional justice track. Others criticized the separation of the missing persons commission from the transitional justice body. Social Affairs and Labour Minister Hind Kabawat told Asharq Al-Awsat that the split was 'purely technical and meant to streamline the work,' noting that significant efforts are underway to form the committees. She stressed the importance of 'remembering through art and beauty as a path toward healing.' The head of the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) has criticized the formation of a new commission on missing persons, warning that its separation from the transitional justice body risks adding bureaucratic complexity and undermines legitimacy. In comments to Asharq Al-Awsat, SNHR Director Fadel Abdulghany said the newly announced commission should instead be a unified 'truth commission' encompassing all victims under the transitional justice framework. 'These bodies cannot be established by presidential decree,' Abdulghany said. 'They require legislation passed by a legislative council, which is essential for establishing legitimacy.' He emphasized the importance of a clear mandate, broad victim and civil society participation, and legal safeguards to ensure both financial and administrative independence. 'Most crucial is independence from the executive authority,' he said. Abdulghany also raised concerns about the decree's language, noting that it grants the head of the commission the power to appoint committee members without specifying any criteria for selection. 'This effectively means the executive branch appoints all members,' he said. He pointed to a key omission: the decree makes no mention of including civil society organizations, rights groups, or victims' associations in the process. Syrian lawyer Hussein Issa welcomed presidential decrees 19 and 20 establishing commissions for transitional justice and missing persons, calling their numbering a 'striking symbolic coincidence.' Issa noted that the numbers match those of two controversial laws enacted by the former regime: the counterterrorism law and the law that established the terrorism court, both widely blamed for the detention and suffering of hundreds of thousands of Syrians. 'It's an oddly positive coincidence,' he told Asharq Al-Awsat, viewing it as a symbolic reversal of past repression. However, Issa expressed regret that no dialogue took place between the commissions and victims' families prior to the decrees. He urged authorities to address this shortcoming, stressing that victims, families of the missing, and those subjected to enforced disappearance are central stakeholders in justice and reparations. He also warned against overlooking the efforts of civil society and rights organizations, particularly those who worked on the ground in regime-held areas. 'None of the activists or human rights defenders in this field were consulted before the decrees were issued,' he said.
Reuters
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Syria forms transitional justice, missing persons commissions
DAMASCUS, May 18 (Reuters) - Syria will set up commissions for justice and missing persons tasked with probing crimes committed during the rule of the Assad family, compensating victims and finding thousands of people whose whereabouts remain unknown, the presidency said. Syria's grinding 13-year civil war has left hundreds of thousands of people, most of them civilians, dead and more than 100,000 people missing, according to United Nations estimates and human rights groups. Former leader Bashar al-Assad was ousted by Islamist rebels Hayat Tahrir al-Sham last year in a stunning 11-day offensive, a shift met with jubilation by many Syrians who nonetheless want to see accountability for abuses suffered under the former government, including in a notorious dungeon-like prison system. The National Transitional Justice Commission's remit is "exposing the truth about the grave violations committed by the former regime and holding those responsible accountable, in coordination with relevant authorities," said a statement from the presidency seen by Reuters on Sunday. It did not say whether the commission would be responsible for investigating and addressing violations by other parties involved in the Syrian war, such as Islamic State. Hassan al-Dughaim, a close adviser to the new Syrian leadership, told Reuters the transitional justice commission would focus on physical and moral reparations and national reconciliation. There will also be trials for those legally proven to have committed crimes, but the process of gathering legal evidence that can be used in court against some individuals associated with the Assad government is difficult and complex, he said. Former Syrian Major General Ibrahim Huwaija, accused of being implicated in the 1977 assassination of Lebanese Druze leader Kamal Joumblatt, will be among those to stand trial, al-Dughaim said. Syrian security forces arrested Huwaija in March. Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa also announced the formation of a National Commission for Missing Persons, which will be tasked with investigating and uncovering the fate of missing and forcibly disappeared persons, documenting cases, creating a national database, and providing humanitarian and legal support to their families, a presidency statement said. The UN Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic (IIMP) welcomed the formation of the commission in a post on social media.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Syria forms transitional justice, missing persons commissions
DAMASCUS (Reuters) -Syria will set up commissions for justice and missing persons tasked with probing crimes committed during the rule of the Assad family, compensating victims and finding thousands of people whose whereabouts remain unknown, the presidency said. Syria's grinding 13-year civil war has left hundreds of thousands of people, most of them civilians, dead and more than 100,000 people missing, according to United Nations estimates and human rights groups. Former leader Bashar al-Assad was ousted by Islamist rebels Hayat Tahrir al-Sham last year in a stunning 11-day offensive, a shift met with jubilation by many Syrians who nonetheless want to see accountability for abuses suffered under the former government, including in a notorious dungeon-like prison system. The National Transitional Justice Commission's remit is "exposing the truth about the grave violations committed by the former regime and holding those responsible accountable, in coordination with relevant authorities," said a statement from the presidency seen by Reuters on Sunday. It did not say whether the commission would be responsible for investigating and addressing violations by other parties involved in the Syrian war, such as Islamic State. Hassan al-Dughaim, a close adviser to the new Syrian leadership, told Reuters the transitional justice commission would focus on physical and moral reparations and national reconciliation. There will also be trials for those legally proven to have committed crimes, but the process of gathering legal evidence that can be used in court against some individuals associated with the Assad government is difficult and complex, he said. Former Syrian Major General Ibrahim Huwaija, accused of being implicated in the 1977 assassination of Lebanese Druze leader Kamal Joumblatt, will be among those to stand trial, al-Dughaim said. Syrian security forces arrested Huwaija in March. Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa also announced the formation of a National Commission for Missing Persons, which will be tasked with investigating and uncovering the fate of missing and forcibly disappeared persons, documenting cases, creating a national database, and providing humanitarian and legal support to their families, a presidency statement said. The UN Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic (IIMP) welcomed the formation of the commission in a post on social media.
Asharq Al-Awsat
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Syria Announces Commissions for Missing Persons, Transitional Justice
Syria on Saturday announced the formation of a national commission for missing persons and another for transitional justice, more than five months after the ouster of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad. Syria's new authorities have pledged justice for victims of atrocities committed under Assad's rule, and a five-year transitional constitution signed in March provided for the formation of a transitional justice commission, AFP said. The fate of tens of thousands of detainees and others who went missing remains one of the most harrowing legacies of Syria's conflict, which erupted in 2011 when Assad's forces brutally repressed anti-government protests, triggering more than a decade of war. A decree signed by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and released by the presidency announced the formation of an independent "national commission for missing persons". The body is tasked with "researching and uncovering the fate of the missing and forcibly disappeared, documenting cases, establishing a national database and providing legal and humanitarian support to their families". A separate decree announced the formation of a national commission for transitional justice to "uncover the truth about the grave violations caused by the former regime". That commission should hold those responsible to account "in coordination with the relevant authorities, remedy the harm to victims, and firmly establish the principles of non-recurrence and national reconciliation", according to the announcement. The decree noted "the need to achieve transitional justice as a fundamental pillar for building a state of law, guaranteeing victims' rights and achieving comprehensive national reconciliation". Both bodies will have "financial and administrative independence" and act over all of Syrian territory, according to the decrees signed by Sharaa. In December, the opposition factions toppled Assad after five decades of his family's iron-fisted rule and nearly 14 years of brutal war that killed more than half a million people and displaced millions more. Tens of thousands of people were detained and tortured in the country's jails, while Assad has been accused of using chemical weapons against his own people. Rights groups, activists and the international community have repeatedly emphasized the importance of transitional justice in the war-torn country. In March, Sharaa signed into force a constitutional declaration for a five-year transitional period. It stipulated that during that period, a "transitional justice commission" would be formed to "determine the means for accountability, establish the facts, and provide justice to victims and survivors" of the former government's misdeeds. This week, prominent Syrian human rights lawyer Mazen Darwish told AFP that lasting peace in Syria depended on the country building a strong judicial system giving justice to the victims of all crimes committed during the Assad era.
