Criminal charges against Syrian intelligence officials unsealed

CHICAGO (CN) — A federal judge on Monday ordered the unsealing of a grand jury indictment against two senior members of the Syrian government's military intelligence.

The grand jury indictment was filed under seal in Chicago last month. In it, the government accuses Syrian Air Force Intelligence Director Jamil Hassan, 72, and Brigadier General Abdul Salam Mahmoud, 65, of "conspiring to commit cruel and inhuman treatment" against detainees at Mezzeh Prison in the Syrian capital of Damascus.

The government claims the pair, along with unnamed associates, "agreed to identify, intimidate, threaten, deter, punish, immobilize, and kill" those opposed to the Syrian government amid the country's civil war between 2012 and 2019. The government further claims the pair oversaw the torture of detainees inside Mezzeh Prison, allegedly including U.S. citizens, through whipping, electrocution, the forcible removal of toenails and other methods.

Federal authorities said these detainees were kept in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions, denied adequate medical care, and coerced into making false confessions.

The government filed arrest warrants for Hassan and Mahmoud along with the November indictment; those warrants and all other documents attached to the case remain under seal. The French and German governments also issued arrest warrants against the men in 2018.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Heather McShain ordered the indictment unsealed a day after Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad reportedly fled Damascus for Moscow, while opposition forces led by the Sunni Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham took the capital. Bashar has served as Syria's president for the last 24 years, succeeding his father Hafez al-Assad who served as president from 1971 until his death in 2000. The apparent collapse of the government under Assad marks a massive shift in the Syrian Civil War, which began in 2011.

It's a shift the Biden administration publicly celebrated Sunday, with President Joe Biden declaring, "at long last, the Assad regime has fallen" from the White House.

"The fall of the regime is a fundamental act of justice. It's a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country," Biden said.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights estimated in June 2022 that nearly 307,000 civilians had been killed in the Syrian Civil War since it began. Nearly 14 million are also estimated to have been displaced by the fighting as of this past June. The U.N. found evidence "of war crimes committed by all sides in Syrian conflict," including by the government, in July 2020.

Attorney General Merrick Garland issued his own statement Monday, echoing Biden's comment condemning the Syrian government under Assad.

“The perpetrators of the Assad regime’s atrocities against American citizens and other civilians during the Syrian civil war must answer for their heinous crimes,” Garland said.

Other Justice Department officials Monday emphasized that the indictment was an example of its commitment to holding those who commit war crimes against U.S. citizens anywhere in the world accountable.

“War crimes such as the torture described in this indictment strike at the basic human rights that we all share,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a press statement Monday. “This historic indictment — the second brought under the U.S. War Crimes statute — demonstrates the Justice Department’s commitment to pursue accountability for those who commit war crimes and other atrocities wherever they may occur.”

However, the U.S. government has recently faced much criticism for its failure to address potential war crimes committed by Israel. In October, Justice Department attorneys wrote a letter — signed anonymously from “your colleagues” — to Garland, calling on him to direct the department to investigate reported crimes committed by Israeli soldiers and civilians, including killings of American citizens. 

The Biden administration has also rejected arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, claiming the ICC lacks the proper jurisdiction to pursue war crimes charges against them.

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