The Assad regime detained the six Syrian children with its parents in 2013. Where are they now?
Children's school uniforms are hung on the door. Their academic workbooks are placed on the desk. The dust-covered toys are still on the floor.
That's what Naila al-Abbasi discovered her sister Rania's apartment in Syria after nearly 12 years after being detained with six children and entering the secret network of prisons and detention centers of the former regime.
Al-Abbasi traveled from Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia on February 25 to visit the houses of the wealthy Dummar Project, a wealthy community in the northwest of the Syrian capital.
“The smell of murder fills the house. The walls and curtains are sad as if they are mourning their separation,” Al-Abbasi posted on Instagram.
She found dirt covered in every corner. The bodies of birds flying into the house were scattered on the floor.
Once a bright and busy home for six children: Dima, 13; Entisar, 12; Naha, 11; Alaa, 8; Ahmed, 6; and Layan, 1.
Rania's brother Hassan Al-Abbasi has been asking for information about his whereabouts for years.
He actively searched for children after the removal of the Bashar al-Assad government in December. But his phone number has not been answered and has no idea about the fate of the family since March 2013.
“The situation is very difficult because there are no children, and this is the first time our family has entered the house,” Hassan told Ottawa's CBC News.
“It’s painful.”
Children may be transferred to orphanages
On March 9, 2013, members of Assad military intelligence officers arrested Rania al-Abbasi's husband Abdul Rahman Yasin in their homes, and then returned to rob all the gold and money, seized three cars, computers and cell phones, as well as their property and passports and ownership documents from the Al-abbbasi dental clinic.
Two days later, intelligence officers and her six children and secretary Majdoline al-Qady returned to arrest Al-Abbasi, who happened to be with them.
Parents are accused of providing humanitarian assistance to those in need during the Syrian Revolution, which broke out in March 2011.
Al-Abbasi's case quickly became one of Syria's most prominent cases, highlighting the issue of missing detainees – both parents and children.
According to reports from other detainees, Hassan believes that the children may remain in detention centers and may be transferred to orphanages or child care facilities and deprived of their identity and family origins. However, without access to the organization's files, it cannot be verified.
The disappearance of the complete family was one of the widespread atrocities committed during Assad's cruel reign.
The Syrian Human Rights Network said it received a report on the practice a few years ago, allegedly involving institutions such as SOS Children's Village Syria.
exist statement On February 25, the group said the group “recognized concerns about children placed in nursing organizations, including Syria.”
“During the war, many children were unnecessarily separated from their families and were placed in alternative care services by authorities without properly documenting their origins.”
Children arrested, family “system”
Hassan said his family paid thousands of dollars to prison officials and members involved in the operations to obtain any information about Rania and her family, but each time they get unverifiable information and have no real knowledge of their whereabouts.
He said the children's father and aunt visited Syrian detention centers in 2013 and demanded their release within the months after being detained. My aunt was then detained for three months.
“There is a system for arresting children and families. The regime could have returned these children to their relatives, but instead, if they speak up, they also threaten to arrest them.”
He said the family hired a lawyer to investigate the orphanage in 2022 after learning that the regime had placed the children of detained or killed in their prison. This also provides no answer.
Over the next few years, an orphanage worker told Hassan that he met four of his six children Although their names have been changed. Despite trying to contact them, Hassan was unable to verify this.
“These kids grew up in our homes…if you kill them, please give us any photos, at least we will know they were killed.” Hassan called on those involved in the former regime's actions.
At least 3,700 children have disappeared
The Syrian Human Rights Network said the proven list shows that the Assad regime has forcibly vanished about 3,700 children since 2011, although many believe that the number is much higher, more than 10,000.
In late January, the SNHR called for a transitional Syrian government to conduct a “direct and comprehensive” investigation into all children of the former regime.
“Many relatives believe that families in detention – children, moms and dads – regimes were killed [all of] They…but there are a lot of kids in these organizations. ” Hassan said.
After exile of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Hosni Korno said he did not want his four sons to be arrested at the peak of Arab spring in 2013 but still alive.
SOS Children's Village says it began accepting document-only children in 2018 under new management changes.
“We regret that when we accept children and explicitly oppose this practice, we find that our situation is untenable because children should not be separated from their families unless they are in their best interests,” the organization said in a statement.
The fate of Rania al-Abbasi and the fate of thousands of other detainees in Assad prison remain unknown. Large-scale graves were discovered after the fall of the Assad regime, but it may take years to identify the remains.
My father believed he was detained in a month
Hassan said the family believes his brother-in-law had been tortured and killed about a month after being detained. Among the 53,000 photos shared by Syrian military police defectors, they realized that Abdul Rahman Yasin was known as “Caesar” because they recognized Abdul Rahman Yasin as “Caesar” because they stole the photos from Syria to document torture and cruel deaths in Assad’s prison.
In the next few years, Hassan said relatives would ask people to visit Al-Abbasi and Yasin's homes to check it out and see what was left behind. But they were too worried that it was still under surveillance or residence by intelligence officers.
Hassan said his family was even more worried that the children might not be in orphanages or even in the country.
“We have confidence. If they die, then they are martyrs. If they are not dead, then we will continue to look for them.”
“It's a disaster among many people. Until now, we haven't reached the actual level of these crimes-we have only reached a part of it.”
