Original article (in Serbian) was published on 10/12/2024; Author: Marija Vučić
After nearly a quarter of a century, the rule of Bashar al-Assad in Syria has fallen, and he has been granted asylum in allied Russia. In its review of events, Vecernje novosti subtly takes the side of this dictator. In his biography, they describe him as having “fought for his country”, while omitting that Assad’s regime has been ranked as one of the most repressive in the world. They fail to mention that, since 2011, more than 100,000 people have been imprisoned in Assad’s jails for criticizing the government and engaging in opposition activities, that detainees have been tortured and killed, and that many Syrian families have been waiting for over a decade for any news about their loved ones, who have disappeared without a trace in the regime’s prisons. There is also no mention of reports by international organizations that Assad’s regime has used chemical weapons multiple times against its own citizens, including sarin nerve gas attacks that have killed thousands of people.
“The ophthalmologist who fought for his country” – this is the romanticized title of an article published yesterday in Vecernje novosti. It provides a brief biography of Bashar al-Assad, whose 24-year rule recently ended after 13 years of civil war that has gripped this Middle Eastern country since 2011.
The Syrian civil war began as part of the broader Arab Spring movement, when citizens protested Assad’s regime, demanding democracy and freedoms. The regime responded with brutal violence, causing a massive humanitarian and refugee crisis. According to UNHCR, by 2015, nearly five million Syrians had fled the country, seeking refuge in neighboring states and Europe. In 2015 alone, Al Jazeera reported, around one million refugees arrived in Europe, with nearly half coming from Syria.
The article outlines the rule of the Assad family, starting with Bashar’s “strong father” Hafez. It describes how Bashar, upon assuming power, initially relied on his father’s associates and their successors but attempted to present himself as a Western-oriented leader. Shortly after taking office, Assad reportedly allowed intellectuals to establish clubs for open discussion, but he quickly shut them down when they demanded greater democracy. The article states that at the time, police “arrested dozens of activists”, which, according to the text, seems to represent the peak of wrongdoing by the former Syrian leader.
However, key details are omitted.
In 2000, Assad succeeded his father, Hafez. While the public, as noted on the Britannica website, initially viewed Bashar al-Assad as a potential reformer, democrat, and anti-corruption advocate, he followed in his autocratic father’s footsteps.
His rule has been marked by brutal crackdowns on political dissent, particularly during the Arab Spring protests of 2011, which escalated into a protracted civil war between the regime and its opponents. More than half a million people have been killed, and 12 million displaced.
Annual reports by the international organization Freedom House describe Assad’s regime as one of the world’s most repressive, banning genuine political opposition, stifling freedom of speech and assembly, and engaging in corruption, torture of political prisoners, enforced disappearances of dissidents, rigged elections, and suppressed media. His rule has also been characterized by mass displacement of the population, disruption of humanitarian aid to those in need, and more.
Last year, the international organization Refugees International highlighted data from the Syrian Network for Human Rights, which reported that over 150,000 people, including about 15,000 women and children, were still detained in Syrian prisons at that time. Many of them were listed as missing. These individuals have been arrested for speaking out against the regime or engaging in opposition activities. According to a 2023 UN report, detainees are subjected to torture in prisons.
This torture, according to the UN, is aimed at extracting “confessions” and includes tying prisoners, bending their bodies into car tires, severe beatings with hoses, sticks, cables, electric shocks, burning body parts, and sexual violence.
In addition to this, inhumane conditions in detention include extremely overcrowded cells, lack of food, drinking water, and toilets, widespread diseases and infections, and lack of medical care.
Many Syrians, according to this UN document, live without any information about the fate of their family members who are imprisoned, with such information deliberately concealed, serving as another form of psychological torture allegedly carried out by Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Public attention to the issue of unlawful detention and extreme torture of political dissidents by the Syrian regime was particularly drawn by the so-called Caesar Report, published in 2014. The document describes the systematic killing of over 11,000 detainees in one region during the civil war from March 2011 to 2013. The report is based on information and photographs provided by an anonymous source known as “Caesar”, a photographer for the Syrian military police whose job was to document the deaths of prisoners. Caesar secretly collaborated with the opposition. The authenticity of the photographs was verified and confirmed by Human Rights Watch, which presented the report to the global public.
A similar report was released by Amnesty International in 2017 regarding the Sednaya military prison near Damascus, which Amnesty called a “slaughterhouse” where mass hangings of civilians occurred. From 2011 to 2015, between 5,000 and 13,000 people were killed there without any trial.
In addition, Bashar al-Assad’s regime, according to Freedom House, has been accused of using chemical weapons against its own population multiple times. The deadliest incident was the 2013 sarin nerve gas attack in the Syrian city of Ghouta, which, according to estimates, killed between 300 and 1,700 people. The authorities in Damascus denied using chemical weapons.
The aforementioned article about the “ophthalmologist who defends his country” makes no mention of these events in a country ravaged by civil war since 2011, where millions live in a constant state of humanitarian crisis, violence, and fear. Meanwhile, Bashar al-Assad’s family enjoyed luxury. The U.S. State Department estimated their wealth to be between $1 billion and $2 billion.
The scale of this wealth has come to light in recent days, after Assad and his family were evacuated to Moscow, and rebels entered his villa. According to The Guardian, they took everything they could get their hands on. Videos show spacious hallways, lavishly decorated rooms, expensive furniture, artwork, designer clothes, fully stocked refrigerators, numerous cars in the garage, a private gym, and a bunker.
According to media reports, including Vecernje novosti, Assad’s regime collapsed when his allies became preoccupied with their own problems, such as Russia being “busy” with Ukraine. CNN writes that it is unclear what will happen next, how the new governance system will look considering the various groups and interests involved, and whether all this will lead to further instability. U.S. officials warn that this power vacuum could be exploited by the Islamic terrorist organization ISIS.
