90,000 cases and thousands of property seizures
Syrian Network for Human Rights Director Fadel Abdulghany told SANA that, as of October 2020, the network had documented at least 10,767 people prosecuted before the court, approximately 90,560 cases and 3,970 instances of property seizure.
He said the network also documented at least 40,602 seizure and confiscation orders between 2012 and 2024, affecting approximately 320,000 citizens within the broader property seizure and confiscation system established by the ousted regime.
Abdulghany said Article 7 of Law No. 22 allowed the court to disregard procedural rules stipulated in legislation then in force during prosecution and trial.
He said the network documented reliance on security reports and confessions extracted under torture, restrictions on the right to a defense, and a lack of transparency in the publication of rulings and the criteria on which they were based.
Abolition alone does not erase the consequences
The central challenge is the distinction between abolishing the institution and undoing the legal, financial and administrative consequences accumulated through years of rulings.
Abdulghany said repealing the law would not automatically erase those consequences. He called for measures including ending detentions based solely on the court’s rulings, canceling arrest warrants and travel bans, and correcting criminal, employment, pension and civil records.
He also called for allowing the families of deceased and forcibly disappeared people to seek the annulment of rulings and restoration of rights, alongside mechanisms for compensation and rehabilitation.
That means implementation could extend well beyond property restitution, potentially affecting an individual’s legal status, employment, pension rights, freedom of movement and official records.
