Syria: Revisiting The Caesar Torture Victim Photographs

Revisiting the ‘Caesar’ photograph files of Syrian Intelligence Victims that Perished in Detention – and the Victims of Interim ‘President’ Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s Takfiri Groups

Sheri Laizer | Exclusive to iKurd.net

An edited selective compilation from public sources.

Background

Two key Syrian defectors between them compiled the photographic evidence of the first two and a half years of victims subjected to physical and psychological State torture. The rapidly rising numbers of the deceased arose in direct response to the Syrian revolt. The Syrian Intelligence Central Crisis Management Cell was established and given responsibility to deal with protestors and armed fighters.

Increasingly lawless, extremist Islamist groups like Jabhat al-Nusra led by Abu Mohamed al-Jolani (the new ’president of Syria), ISIS, al-Zenki the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army and numerous competitors, operated an international recruitment programme that filtered in transnational jihadist fighters. These armed actors also kidnapped, disappeared, tortured and executed their opponents including government soldiers and civilians. This is ongoing under Ahmed al-Sharaa but with a sectarian slant.

From a very early stage in the Syrian revolt, the democratic opposition was overtaken by armed actors with a Sunni Islamist agenda seeking to establish an Islamic state as with ISIS. They also fought one another for resources and territory, torturing and murdering detainees in cold blood. Meanwhile, Turkey’s Islamist President allowed the infiltration of thousands of foreign fighters through its borders and undertook a series of operations directed at the indigenous Kurdish population largely being defended by the PKK’s sister organisation in Syria, the People’s Defence Units (SDF and YPG). Syria became a morass. The Western powers intervened negatively.

The ’Caesar’ images of victims who lost their lives in Syrian government detention centres were taken between March 2011-August 2013. Farid Nada al-Mazhan (Madhhan), codenamed ‘Caesar’, was a Syrian Military Police forensic photographer tasked before and during the revolt with photographing fatalities. His sister, Khawla’s, husband, Osama Othman, code-named ‘Sami’ saved the images Caesar copied from his workplace onto a USB stick.

Sami then began categorising them and created files. At the time, Sami was an undercover activist in contact with opposition groups. He convinced Caesar to carry on working at his gruesome job so as to keep obtaining photographic evidence against the endemic human rights abuses he was witness to. In 2013, after a 35-day period in detention Caesar was cleared and returned to work for a time before finally defecting and fleeing from Syria in fear for his life. Sami contacted the FSA. They travelled at different times.

Each victim had had multiple photographs taken. The process also served to prevent corruption where it could have been claimed that a citizen was alive and in receipt of any kind of state welfare etc.

‘Sami’ later passed the many thousands of images on to the German and French Intelligence agencies.¹ Copies were also given to Qatar. Qatar, a primary funder of the insurgency instructed British law firm, Carter Ruck and Partners to authenticate the photographs. The lawyers produced a report having employed forensic experts to examine the causes of death as indicated by the photographs.

The Istanbul-based Syrian National Council (SNC) first announced the existence of some duplicated 55,000 photos taken by Caesar of 11,000 bodies from the government’s detention centres. Of Caesar’s primary 18,000 photos, 1,036 show the bodies of soldiers, most of whom were killed in battle, while 4,025 are of civilians, the majority of whom were killed in their homes.

The remaining 28,000 photos concerned detainees who perished in the government’s detention centres. Each body was photographed some four or five times, and a total of 6,786 victims who died in detention was recorded during this two and a half year first period of the revolt..

Perspective on the Syrian National Council

After the armed uprising began in Syria in March 2011, an opposition political group began to organise in Turkey in the name of the Syrian National Council (SNC) to bring together the various factions opposed to Bashar al-Assad’s government after the failure of the ‘Damascus Spring’. Bashar had initially promised promised greater political openness but swiftly failed to deliver. Burhan Ghalioun, an academic living in France who returned more frequently to Syria after the death of Hafez al-Assad was elected as its first chairman on August 29, 2011.

He was criticised for being close to the Muslim Brotherhood and went on to endorse the militarisation of the uprising and Free Syrian Army. He resigned over internal divisions on May 17, 2012. He had said that if the SNC took control of Syria it would end its military alliance with Iran and cut arms to Hezbollah and Hamas.² The Free Syrian Army became armed and increasingly active.

The Kurdish opposition claim that by this stage the SNC lacked control over the opposition fighters (Syrian army defectors and the scores of criminals and gangsters that joined them). The supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and its armed formations systematically gained control over the opposition, with many militia formations gathered under the umbrella of the Revolution Shields Board.

It then eventually allied with Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS – the former al-Nusra Front led by Ahmed al-Sharaa going at the time by his Takfiri nom de guerre of Abu Mohamed al-Jolani). He formed the National Front for the Liberation of al-Sham, with an estimated 300,000 fighters under arms. It fell into line with the plans of Turkish intelligence that ostensibly controlled and directed the political and military decision-making of the largely Sunni Syrian armed opposition.

The FSA affiliated with groups of mercenaries, bandits and looters such as al-Amshat, al-Hamzat and Jund al-Sham, in addition to the mercenary groups assembled by Turkish intelligence, mainly led by Turkmen extremists including Sultan Murad, Sultan Suleiman Shah and other factions that took Ottoman Empire names.³

Selected testimony from “Sami” with Asharq al-Awsat Editor in Chief, Ghassan Charbel, 31 December 2024 (soon after the fall of the Al Assad Government).

Where was the first photo taken from?

The photos came from the legal evidence department at the military police branch, meaning the victims in the photos were killed under torture at the security branches across Damascus. There were no photos that indicated the victims were from Seydnaya prison.

What was the most brutal branch? Did torture differ from one branch to another?

When I started sorting the photos according to which branch they came from, I realized that around 50 percent of the victims came from “Branch 215.” At another branch, 227, I noticed that the majority of the victims had missing eyes. I can’t say that the eyes were removed or became decomposed after death. Insects were eating the eyes in their sockets. This was evident in a large number of photos. Perhaps the decomposition of the body made it seem that eyes were missing or maybe the insects were what ate them.

Where the victims shot dead or killed by sharp objects?

I leave this for the experts. I may have my own opinion, but since this is a legal file, I won’t say it. German authorities have a full copy of the file (see German court case against below) and they are examining the data. When I say that the data incriminates Assad, my statements are worthless because I don’t have the legal expertise. So, I sought to keep the files away from the media and political debates and entrusted them to German and French (not mentioned, ‘Intelligence) authorities. I gave them my testimony so that if anything happens to Sami and Caesar, the information will not be lost.

One Woman

Were there woman and children among the victims?

We found one woman only. As for the children, we found many under the age of 18. Not just that. We also found patients. It was evident that they were taken out of hospitals or were killed while they were receiving treatment. I cannot be conclusive, but you can see medical equipment, such as tubes in arms, catheters, serum bags, and others, still attached to the body. This was all evidence that they were receiving some form of treatment.

Were there any labels on the victims after they were killed? How did they give a cause of death?

They would simply state “death of detainee numbered so and so”. That’s all.

So, no cause of death is given?

I will leave this to Caesar to explain himself when he chooses to reveal himself. This is at the heart of his work at the military departments.

How many photos have been obtained?

There could be up to six photos taken of a single victim, based on their injuries or physical traits. So, we have some 27,000 photos of some 7,000 victims.

When did you stop collecting evidence?

By the end of 2013, the situation had grown too dangerous for the people involved. We could have stayed and collected more, but weighing the danger, we believed it was best to get out of Syria before being busted and losing all the work we accomplished and even our families.

I was not wanted by the regime, so I was able to normally leave Syria to Lebanon in the end of 2013. My family and Caesar left Syria soon after and we ended our work of documenting the victims. We don’t have anything from after September 2013. I spent less than two weeks in Beirut. I managed to get our families and Caesar out of Syria. We eventually settled for a while in Qatar.

Did you receive any support from countries or organizations?

We never received any such support. At that time, we were working with a group of Syrian dissidents (not specified here but elsewhere this is given out as being the FSA and the Istanbul-based Syrian National Council referenced earlier in this compilation of sources) and we never came in contact with our hosts in Qatar or elsewhere. We are simply people who are not part of any organization…

Around a year later, the Syrian groups in the US pressured us to approach Washington. They knew how things worked in the administration and how to use this file to make a difference, even if the man in the White House didn’t want to. It was a long battle we waged with our Syrian brothers in the US that was crowned with the issuing of the “Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act”, or “Caesar Act”. ⁴

Impact of the Caesar Photographs

The Caesar Act was not passed until the bill was signed by Donald Trump in his first term as US President on December 12, 2019. It was passed in the House in January 2020 under the name of the Syria Caesar Civilian Protection Act of 2019, 116^th Congress.

The belated law imposed economic sanctions on the Syrian Government.

On December 19, 2025, the Act was repealed in order to lift sanctions on Syria under the leadership of former Al Qaeda in Syria (Jabhat al-Nusra) chief, Ahmed al-Shara’a.

France submitted the images to the United Nations Security Council, which lent them greater legitimacy and raised the prospect that the regime would be charged with war crimes. The Syrian security apparatus decided to mount a defense.

According to the NY Times, “In August 2014, senior military, political and intelligence officials met with Syrian legal scholars to discuss their strategy, according to a memo viewed by The Times that described a meeting of the National Security Bureau, the coordinating hub for Syria’s intelligence and security agencies. The Times verified the deliberations laid out in the memo with two former officials who were briefed on the discussions. Over two days, according to the memo, the senior officials plotted to discredit the images. Because there were no names connected to the photos, they could argue that only a handful were of political prisoners and that many were opposition fighters killed in battle or petty criminals, the memo said…”⁵

SNHR victim identification ongoing

The SNHR recently confirmed the identities of 29 further individuals who appeared in the Caesar photographs … noting that the previous reports issued by the SNHR had identified 772 of these victims. The latest cases mean that, between March 2015 and September 2019, the SNHR has managed to positively identify a total of at least 801 of the victims shown in the Caesar photographs, including two children and 10 women, after receiving approximately 6,189 of the photographs smuggled out by Caesar.

In this context, the report states that SNHR cross-checked these 801 photos with those included on its database listing cases of enforced disappearance, finding that most of the victims shown had previously been registered there as enforced disappearances.

In addition to cross-checking each of the people shown against the database of individuals believed to have died due to torture; the report points out that there was an intersection of 16 percent with the database of victims of torture, that is to say, 124 of the cases registered in the SNHR’s database out of the 801 forced disappearance cases had died due to torture.

The report further reveals that following the release of the Caesar photos, all 801 cases were confirmed as having died due to torture. These individuals whose identities have been confirmed are thus no longer registered as forcibly disappeared, despite the fact that their families haven’t received their bodies, because the Caesar photographs clearly prove the deaths of these detainees.

The report distributes these 801 cases across the Syrian governorates, with the highest percentage of victims whose photos we have identified being from Damascus Suburbs with 65.42 percent, followed by Daraa governorate with 25.84 percent, and thirdly, Homs governorate with 2.62 percent.

The report also distributes the same 801 cases according to the security branch’s detention centers where it is believed they died, noting that the highest death rate was recorded in Branch 215, followed by Branch 227…⁶

Extracts from the Carter Ruck & Partners Report (now in the public domain)

The report commissioned by Qatar (that was funding the SNC and various Sunni militant groups) referred to there being 11,000 dead detainees in the period covered by Caesar’s photographs.

The procedure

“When detainees were killed at their places of detention their bodies would be taken to a military hospital to which Caesar would be sent with a (forensic) doctor and a member of the judiciary, his official duty being to photograph the corpses. He informed the inquiry team that there could be as many as   fifty (50) bodies a day to photograph which required fifteen to thirty minutes of work per corpse.³…

“It was apparent that most deceased persons had between four or five images taken of them allowing an estimate of images of one thousand three hundred (1,300) individual corpses being considered by the forensics team.

“The vast majority of the images were of young men most likely between the ages of twenty and forty, with a minority more likely to be up to sixty years old. There were no children. Within the images seen there was only one female body and this was clothed and showed no evidence of injury. The bodies were mostly unclothed or minimally clothed…

“Within these five thousand five hundred (5,500) images, images of a total of eight hundred and thirty five(835) deceased persons were evaluated in detail. Of these 20% showed evidence of inflicted trauma and 30% were equivocal. 42% showed emaciation.⁷

The Al-Khatib Trial – Selected sections from the 30-page transcript of the Syria Justice & Accountability Centre Trial Monitoring reports

The German Trial in the Koblenz Higher Regional Court of war crimes suspect, Colonel Anwar Raslan of Syrian Government Intelligence (found guilty on January 13, 2022).

Colonel Anwar Raslan was an officer in charge of one of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate (GID) detention centres known as the Al-Khatib Unit, or Branch 251, located in Damascus:

“Branch 251 was the Directorate’s branch responsible for the governorates of Damascus and Rural Damascus. The Syrian regime often transferred high-level detainees to Branch 251. The photos of at least 145 detainees who died in Branch 251 custody appear in the Caesar report, a report that details the systematic killing of more than 11,000 detainees by the Syrian government in one region over a two-and-a-half-year period from March 2011 to August 2013… This physical and psychological abuse was intended to coerce confessions and gain further information on the opposition movement. ⁸

The court was presided over by Chief Judge, Dr Anne Kerber, and panel judges, Wiedner, Jeserich, Lenz, Kapischke. Judges Zeitler-Hetger and Schlagmann were supplementary judges. It began on April 23, 2020.⁹ The senior prosecutor was Jasper Klinge.¹⁰

Evidence connected the photographic evidence held in the Caesar files, along with surviving witness testimonies (from asylum claims in Germany) three documents signed by Raslan as Head of Branch 251 and media files and texts taken from him¹¹ and to reach a guilty verdict. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2022 – before regime change although he had defected early in the conflict in 2012 and joined the opposition.

He had been an interrogator in the Intelligence Service. He entered Germany on a visa in 2014 and was arrested in 2019. Co-defendant, Eyad al-Gharib was employed in a police squad that arrested protestors¹² under the Investigation Unit of Anwar Raslan. In late 2011, at Branch 251 detention centre under Anwar Raslan’s command, al-Gharib was accused of allowing the torture and detention of at least 30 people following the suppression of protests in the city of Douma.¹³

Al Jazeera reported before the culmination of the trial: “Raslan worked for 18 years in the Syrian intelligence services, where he rose through the ranks to become head of the domestic intelligence “investigation” service, according to a German investigator who testified on the second day of the trial…Raslan defected and fled Syria at the end of 2012 before arriving in Germany in July 2014 under a programme for Syrian refugees in need of special protection…”¹⁴

The Raslan trial records report the following evidence (selected important extracts) given to the court through French-German speaking interpreters by French journalist, Garance Le Caisne, who had interviewed Caesar and seen the photos he leaked.

…Presiding Judge (Dr. Anne) Kerber asked what Caesar told (French journalist, Garance Le Caisne, author of Codename Caesar) Le Caisne about his work, how he got in possession of the pictures and what was Sami’s position. Le Caisne said that Caesar told her that he had been a military photographer in the center of Damascus since before the revolution. His job was to create files of soldiers who died in car accidents, drowned or committed suicide. Caesar had to take photos of the “crimes scene” or the place of events before going back to his office where he printed the photos and wrote a report for the military police. Le Caisne said Caesar liked his jobs as it served justice.[5]

Le Caisne said that when the revolution began, one of the photographers had to take pictures of corpses, namely civilians who were shot. When the photographer came to Caesar’s office and told him about that, Caesar realized that the corpses were demonstrators. Le Caisne said that happened in Dar’a and that the photographer was very agitated before it became their new routine. The photographers were called to the hospital in Tishreen, the headquarters of the military police. Le Caisne said that the corpses of civilians had names on them. Later, they were identified by numbers only.

Judge Kerber asked whether Caesar told Le Caisne when [the policy of identifying corpses with numbers instead of names] changed. Le Caisne could not remember. She added that [Caesar and the other photographer] worked in Tishreen Hospital every morning, the hospital where Bashar Al-Assad once worked. Le Caisne said that many corpses were brought to hospitals where they were stored in refrigerators in the mortuaries, which was where the photographers took their pictures. At some point, the mortuary was too small, so the corpses were stored in the hallways.

Le Caisne said that when the corpses arrived, they had two numbers. One was supposedly the detainee’s number. Underneath the detainee’s number was the number of the intelligence service branch (e.g. 248, 215, 225, 251). According to Le Caisne, the forensic specialist from the military allocated a third number to catalogize the corpses. The forensic expert had a note pad in which he noted these numbers, as well as the characteristics of the dead person, such as height, hair color, scars and reason for death.

Reasons for death would say, for example, heart attack even though the corpses showed signs of different reasons for death. Le Caisne said that some of the corpses had no eyes or red marks on their throat. Some showed signs of starvation and chemical burns. She said amongst the corpses were kids as well as old people.

Le Caisne further explained that at some point they moved from Tishreen Hospital to Mezzeh Hospital as there were so many corpses that there was not enough space in the hallways of Tishreen Hospital. Mezzeh Hospital was more practical since it had a wing left from the old hospital and garages. Le Caisne said that it was easier to hide the corpses in these garages, but that in 2012 people living in Mezzeh started complaining about the smell because there were so many corpses.

The corpses were piled up and every morning, Caesar and his colleagues took pictures of them without asking any questions. They were always accompanied by one guard. They took several photos of each corpse (3-4): face, bust and entire body. After that, they went back to their office. The corpses were marked with two numbers, which were written on sticky tape of bad quality with a marker.

The forensic experts either attached a card with another number to the corpse, put the card on the corpse or held it for the picture. The number of the forensic expert was always shown in the picture, the counting system went from 1-10 on the first day and continued on the second day. It always went until 5,000 and then continued with 1/b2, 1/b3…until b5,000 so it was always counted from Arabic 1 until Arabic 5,000.

(Panel) Judge Wiedner wanted to know whether the number from the forensics experts was per corpse or per picture. Le Caisne said it was per corpse.

Wiedner further asked whether it was written on paper. Le Caisne confirmed adding that it was also noted in a notepad which was stored in the forensics expert’s office. She further explained that after taking the pictures, the photographers went back to their office to print the photos. There was a form which was filled out and the photos were attached to this form. Le Caisne said she could not remember what exactly these forms looked like, but she could check in her notes.

Judge Kerber asked what kind of forms were used. Le Caisne said the forms were numbered and photos were attached.

Kerber asked whether the court could have a look at one of these forms. Le Caisne confirmed.

The judges visually inspected Annexes 1 and 3 from Le Caisne’s book…Judge Kerber asked one of the court translators to translate the document:

Details regarding the instance: ordered by the general military prosecutor to document the event of death. Detainee No. #. Detained by Branch 227 of the intelligence service. Pictures from the mortuary of hospital 601 requested 2013 (exact date filled in by hand). Signed by the representative for judiciary evidence (name redacted), paratrooper of the military police.

One of the court translators added that the document said ‘paratrooper lieutenant colonel’ before the signature and ‘Major General Ali’ on the left side. The other court translator added that the document said the pictures were taken in the autopsy hall of the hospital [not the mortuary as translated].

Defence lawyer, Michael Böcker (and co-defence lawyer, Yorck Fratzky) asked Le Caisne whether the year (2013) was in the document and the exact date had to be filled in. Le Caisne affirmed explaining that these forms were pre-printed and already used before the revolution. This routine was simply continued. Le Caisne further added that in the fourth line of the document, it says 2013 but the exact date and name would be redacted.

Böcker asked who made the redactions. Le Caisne said they [she, her publisher, Caesar and Sami] tried to redact as much as possible explaining that nowadays if someone in Syria recognizes a relative in the Caesar files, it means that the person in the picture is a terrorist and his entire family is considered terrorists as well. Le Caisne said that many people recognized their relatives but did not dare to tell anyone.

She said that the cousin of a Syrian friend of hers recognized her husband in one of the pictures. Her husband never participated in demonstrations but was arrested and tortured. Le Caisne said her friend’s cousin lived in Dar’a and when she recognized her husband in the Caesar files, she called her friend in France using a Jordanian sim-card.

Böcker wanted to know whether the redactions refer to dead people. Le Caisne affirmed saying that the redactions include the number of the forensic experts and the number of the detainee. She added that somewhere in the archives of the regime one can find the names attached to these numbers…

(Panel Judg)e Wiedner asked Le Caisne to explain Caesar’s course of action. Le Caisne explained that Caesar and his colleagues took pictures every day, then went back to their office where they had to fill out the documents. At the beginning, there was one document per corpse, however since the beginning of 2012, the number of corpses increased, so they had to use one form for several corpses with the relevant photos attached.

These forms were then sent to the military police. Le Caisne said that the workload constantly increased. The pictures were sorted by the relevant branch of the intelligence services. She said that the corpses in Tishreen Hospital were hurt (injured?) and not always sorted. The photographers took the pictures quickly, so initially they were not always in a certain order.

The pictures were then put in order based on the relevant branch of the intelligence services, as well as the number given by the forensic experts. For example, there was a pile for 215, 225, 248, air force [المخابرات الجوية] (which had no number) and 251. (My note for emphasis here, No. 251 is the Al-Khatib Unit linked with Anwar Raslan in the Koblenz Universal Jurisdiction trial).

(Judge) Wiedner said he heard that Le Caisne cannot remember one of the numbers. Le Caisne said every branch of the intelligence services has a number, however, the air force intelligence service is simply called “Jawiya” [الجوية‎].

Le Caisne said that when Caesar first saw the pictures [of the civilian corpses] he was scared and wanted to talk to Sami. She said Sami was an engineer with connections to the revolution and was much more involved in the revolution than Caesar. Le Caisne further explained that Caesar wanted to defect right away, but Sami convinced him to stay.

She said people feel powerless when their family member is missing. It is like a black hole that encompasses more than just fear. She said that many people do not talk about their missing relatives out of fear. When someone is arrested, he is considered a terrorist. Le Caisne further explained that the pictures from the Caesar files came from detention facilities, which are black holes. If one is referred from a detention facility to a prison, he is lucky since it means that he re-appears. If one is in a prison, he still has a name and his family can request a visit or death certificate with the military police. In a detention facility, there is simply nothing.

Le Caisne said Sami and Caesar wanted to show the pictures to the world and show the families what happened. Families who are able to recognize a relative in the pictures are lucky because it indicated that the person died fast. After months or years in a detention facility, people become unrecognizable. He hid the stick in his belt or socks. Le Caisne said Sami (should be Caesar) was able to go home after work every evening and was travelling back and forth between his home and workplace every day. Le Caisne said Caesar gave the USB stick to Sami who then archived the pictures. This practice went on for one and a half years.

Le Caisne said some districts were controlled by the Free Syrian Army, while some were controlled by Islamic groups.

(Judge) Kerber asked whether Le Caisne meant the Free Syrian Army or the Syrian Army. Le Caisne said she meant the Free Syrian Army. She further explained that Caesar’s daily commute home from work was difficult when certain districts were controlled by the opposition. According to Le Caisne, Caesar felt that he was working for the right thing. Le Caisne said that some people from Caesar’s office defected.

Many members of the military who were part of ethnic groups [fled] and the majority of the remaining military police were Alawites. Caesar felt more and more alone and there were less and less Sunnis. At some point, Caesar was asked to train someone, an Alawite. Le Caisne said things became more difficult for Caesar. The idea was to balance the number of pictures and the threat they posed. The more pictures, the higher the threat.

(Judge) Kerber asked where the pictures were when Sami and Caesar left. Le Caisne said Sami had all the pictures. Caesar was taken out of the country. He was entrusted to members of the opposition every 50 kilometers and was taken to southern Syria where he waited a month, hidden in a truck, then left the country. She said that Sami left the country through official channels and that the pictures were brought out of the country by a third person…

Le Caisne said she believes that some pictures were duplicated adding that one has to know that they were “amateurs” not professionals, so she did not expect to get a precise copy or professional work.

Caesar got a call every morning around 9am to come to the hospital to take pictures of corpses. At the beginning, there were relatively few corpses, so he was done quickly. However, the number of corpses increased, so it took longer to take pictures. He went to Mezzeh Hospital and Tishreen Hospital in the north, close to the military police. Generally, he took pictures in the morning and then went back to the office.

(Panel Judge) Wiedner asked how they proceeded with the pictures after Caesar fled. Le Caisne said that Sami kept the pictures, however they were also sent to the Syrian National Council (SNC) via [name redacted]. Le Caisne further explained that Sami and Caesar were never in contact with the SNC. However, politicians with connections to the opposition were supposed to show the pictures to the world. Sami and Caesar went to Qatar. The country financed a commission of inquiry (Carter-Ruck solicitors) to write a report on the files. That happened at the end of 2013/beginning of 2014…

(Panel Judge) Wiedner asked Le Caisne whether the names Imran and Zachariah [codenames] sound familiar to her. Le Caisne affirmed saying that the two of them were in Turkey where the SNC has its headquarters. She further added that Sami and Caesar left Syria on different routes but rejoined in Turkey with Imran and Zachariah. Imran and Zachariah tried to document the 53,000 pictures by classifying them in order to say how many detainees came from each branch, e.g. 225…

Wiedner wanted to know more about the relationship between Imran and Zachariah and Sami and Caesar. Le Caisne said Imran and Zachariah were in contact with [name redacted] and met with the SNC. She was not sure whether Caesar met with the SNC.

Wiedner wanted to know whether Le Caisne met with Imran and Zachariah. Le Caisne affirmed adding that it was in November 2015 in Turkey.

… Since the corpses only have numbers instead of names it is easy for the regime to claim that people are not actually Syrian. The regime archived everything while at the same time hiding everything.

(Judge) Wiedner recalled that the Caesar files include 53,000 pictures. He asked Le Caisne how many dead people they include.

Le Caisne said the files consist of three [categories of persons]: detainees, soldiers and civilians who are dead but have not been detained. There are about 25,000 pictures of detainees.

Le Caisne checked her notes and clarified that the first group (detainees) includes 28,707 pictures of 6,786 detainees.

Judge Wiedner wanted to know how many corpses the other groups comprise. Le Caisne said the second group (soldiers) includes 1,036 people and the third group (non-detained civilians) includes 4,025 people…

Wiedner wanted to know which path the pictures took before they were made public, what happened in Qatar and why the pictures were connected to Qatar in the first place.

Le Caisne said Qatar supported the opposition in Syria and financed a commission of inquiry, namely David M. Crane and Desmond de Silva, (My Note, forensic experts tasked by Carter Ruck & Partners) to inspect the pictures.

Wiedner asked Le Caisne about the British law firm Carter-Ruck solicitors. Le Caisne said this law firm hired David M. Crane and Desmond de Silva and paid for everything together with Qatar.

Wiedner asked how the pictures were presented to the public. Le Caisne said there was a meeting at the French foreign ministry in January 2014 attended by a “core group” who supported the Syrian opposition and approximately ten foreign ministers from France, Germany, U.S., Turkey, Jordan, Italy, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. A group within the SNC provided a video presenting the pictures.

Le Caisne added that Laurent Fabius [French foreign minister at the time] agreed to make the pictures available to certain authorities. She also said that the pictures were put on table during peace talks in Geneva by Ahmad Jarba and representatives of Carter-Ruck. CNN, the Guardian and others reported on that…

Le Caisne explained that there are four intelligence services in Syria, which are divided into branches. Some of them are represented everywhere. Some of them are for specific regions only. If someone gets arrested by one of the intelligence services, he gets transferred to a detention facility within a certain branch and he disappears. Someone can receive a “sentence” and be transferred to a “prison”, either civilian (Adra) [عدرا] or military (Sidnaya) [صيدنايا‎]. Le Caisne said once one is in prison, he is back on the radar and can be released from prison. A court can acquit someone who can then be arrested again by a different intelligence service and disappear again.

Kroker (Plaintiff’s Counsel) asked Le Caisne how many people recognized persons from the pictures. Le Caisne said that two years ago, the Syrian Association for the Missing and Prisoners of Conscience (SAFMCD), launched a website dedicated to the Caesar files. They received calls from families who recognized someone. As of two years ago, they received calls from more than 700 families who recognized their relatives in the pictures.

(Defence Lawyer) Fratzky asked whether Sami was in contact with the Free Syrian Army. Le Caisne affirmed adding that Sami was a so-called activist engaged in the revolution.

The French police then asked her if Caesar told her anything about French victims. Schulz wanted to know whether Le Caisne remembers her answer to that question. Le Caisne did not remember exactly but when France received a copy of the Caesar files, they were looking for their own nationals in the files. She said there was a rumor that some of the victims were French. Le Caisne did not know whether she spoke with the police about it but she remembered that they were looking for French nationals amongst the victims in the Caesar files…

(Panel Judge) Wiedner asked why the examination number allocated by the forensic experts consisted of a number and a “b” at the end [e.g., 123/b]. According to Deußing, Sami said that the number from the forensic experts was only allocated when the order to take pictures was given. When the corpses arrived at the hospital, they only had two numbers. After the forensic experts arrived, the third number was allocated and written in a notebook.

The numbers went until 5,000 and then switched to letters. Deußing provided an example where the number was “26/b” and explained that there must have been at least 5,025 corpses before this one. Deußing provided examples from different folders to illustrate his point.

Testimony from Criminal Chief Inspector Deußing¹⁵ of the German BKA on Sami’s testimony

Deußing’s office has information from the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism on Syria (IIIM) which indicates that guards said that Al-Khatib transfers people/corpses to the hospital of the Red Crescent where the cause of death is determined. From there, the corpses are brought to Harasta Hospital. Deußing recalled that Al-Gharib said that corpses from Branch 251 were brought to Mujtahid when they did not show signs of torture. If they showed signs of torture, they were brought directly to a mass grave in Najha.

Deußing continued with his presentation saying that the files were created by the military police in Qaboun in Mezzeh and Tishreen between May 2011 and August 2013. He added that the pictures were taken for documentation purposes regarding deceased detainees. They were used by security authorities for reports and for their decision-making processes…

(Panel Judge) Wiedner referred to a note from September 11, 2020, written by the BKA regarding documents received from CIJA. He asked Deußing how many documents the BKA received from CIJA and how they were similar in content. Deußing said he is sure that they received four documents which were nearly identical with respect to content.

They all refer to persons detained by the military intelligence directorate in 2013. The letterhead was identical, but some referred to Branch 227 and others to Branch 215. All documents described the reasons for death using similar wording: “health condition worsened,” “transferred to hospital,” “deceased at the hospital.” They also referred to the locations of the corpses and the decision-making processes behind deaths. According to Deußing, ¾ of all corpses were not given to relatives. Rather, they were buried at a place known to the military police.

Wiedner recalled the second part of the conclusion which stated that the process of taking pictures and filling out the documents was a procedure of the military police prior to 2011 that continued after 2011. Sami said that the reports were used by the military judiciary to issue death certificates and for other documentation purposes. Early on, supposedly one form was used per person, but later, one form was used for multiple people…

The request was issued on 15 February 2019 and the protocol of the questioning of the guard from Branch 251 was handed over on 9 May 2019. The questioning referred to cases of death within the Branch. The guard said that whenever a detainee died, the guards were informed. The corpse was then brought to the hospital of the Red Crescent […] there a heart attack was officially declared, and noted on the death certificate and in the detainee’s file. The death certificate was often thrown away. If the certificate was not thrown away, it was passed to the head of the general intelligence directorate. The corpses were transferred to Harasta where the forensic expert in charge had a log book tracking the number of corpses and the respective branch from which the corpses came, as well as the codes for those details. From 2013 onward, the codes were no longer written directly on the corpses. Around 50 to 60 corpses, the hospital was completely packed, so they called the intelligence service who then told the hospital to bring the corpses to mass graves. At the beginning of 2013 the corpses in Harasta were buried right away due to complaints about the smell.

Klinge recalled that Deußing previously mentioned a witness who identified a person from the Caesar files and wanted to know whether there are more people who identified someone from the files. Deußing affirmed saying that [name redacted], a lawyer, identified several people who were former colleagues. He said that one of them was arrested as he provided legal consultation to demonstrators. Deußing said the lawyer also identified people from his own family. Deußing further explained that all witnesses who identified people from the files said that none of them had connections to the armed opposition.

Klinge asked when the CCMC was founded. Deußing said the name “Central Crisis Management Cell” already indicated that the cell’s task is to manage the crisis on behalf of the Syrian state. According to Deußing, it was founded in March 2011.

Wiedner wanted to know about Sami’s personal background. Deußing said he lived in the suburbs of Damascus which were controlled by the Free Syrian Army (FSA). He left Syria because he was afraid of being arrested. He left before Caesar.

Wiedner recalled Sami saying that there are three different kinds of pictures: detainees, martyrs and terrorists. According to Sami, that was how they were sorted by the regime, by Caesar himself because it was his job. Sami said that he only worked on the detainee pictures, however he also saw some of the martyrs’ pictures, which included names of the dead persons. Sami said he was in a hurry, so he might have made some small mistakes in naming and sorting the files. Wiedner said that the BKA presented Sami with a sample file name for him to explain how he named the files:

Deußing said Sami confirmed to him what Deußing already realized: the first number indicates the number of the branch from which the corpse came, the second number indicates the detainee’s number and the third number indicates a date. The number [in this case “1”] in brackets was inserted automatically by the computer and indicates that multiple pictures exist for one person.

Wiedner recalled that the BKA presented more pictures to Sami to ask him about the numbers on the corpses and cards. Deußing affirmed and explained the three-part numbering system which includes the detainee’s number, the number of the intelligence branch [where the corpse came from and where the detainee was detained] and the number given by the forensic expert. Deußing said that according to Sami, the first two numbers were allocated at the hospital once the corpses arrive.

The third number was allocated by the forensic expert once the order to take pictures of the corpse was given. Sami identified [name redacted], a forensic expert, in one of the pictures…

Wiedner asked whether there was corruption. Deußing said the documentation of corpses is also a way of showing the whereabouts of corpses to ensure that people who are dead are not being released in return for money or that people are being released for money but claimed to be dead.

Al-Gharib’s defense counsel Schuster recalled that the files were initially divided in different categories (detainees, martyrs and terrorists) and asked whether there were any more division(s) (such as reasons for detention). Deußing said Sami only worked on detainee pictures. Regarding the reasons for detention, Deußing and his office clarified that with the help of witnesses such as [name redacted] and [name redacted]. In general, people were arrested in connection to demonstrations.

Schuster wanted to know more about the category “regime/martyrs”. Deußing said that Sami did not say anything on this. However, “(file refence) Kuwait” [كويت] included pictures of crime scenes and suicides within the Syrian military. In these cases, there was often the name of the killed/dead person, while there was only a number for detainees. The term “terrorist” was allocated by the Syrian government. Deußing said it is known to the BKA that the term “terrorist” has a wide meaning for the Syrian government and is used for demonstrators and anyone opposing the government.¹⁶…

The SOHR recently called for international investigators to access and examine detention centres and prisons run by the new regime.¹⁷

After HTS seized control on December 7, 2024, the doors of the prisons were opened freeing many criminals including rapists, paedophiles and murderers without any form of formal monitoring leaving them at large and free to pursue their former victims or commit fresh crimes.

There is no adequate formal transitional justice mechanism in effect: “The government’s slow response to pursuing criminals, coupled with the release of individuals accused of serious crimes — often without trial or explanation — has severely eroded public trust,” Haid Haid, a consulting fellow with the Middle East program at British think tank Chatham House wrote for London-based media outlet Al Majalla. “In the void left by these failures, many have turned to their own means of justice.”

That was six months ago. The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reported that a total of 3666 death due to torture were recorded in Syria for 2025. These included 328 children and 312 women.¹⁸

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported crackdowns by the new regime on its reporting, circulating fake news about the Kurdish dominated SDF and an average monthly civilian death toll of over 1000 people. Arbitrary detentions include civilian members of minorities and holders of ‘reconciliation cards’ by security and army members at checkpoints. The detainees are taken for interrogation at the new regime’s security centres.¹⁹

‘Honour’ killings and minority genocides

‘Honour’ related crimes are also on the rise with perpetrators free to act with impunity. Syrians for Truth & Justice reported in June 2025:

Syria’s Transitional Phase: “Honor” Killings Persist Amid Failing Protection and Legal Response

…With the fall of the regime on 8 December 2024, prisons were opened, and hundreds of detainees were released; an act widely welcomed as a long-awaited entitlement for political prisoners and dissidents who had been unjustly imprisoned and disappeared for years without clear charges or fair trials. However, this step, which was intended to uphold the principle of the rule of law, revealed serious flaws. Among those released were individuals convicted of serious criminal offenses, including so-called “honor” killings and sexual assaults, who were freed without undergoing proper legal accountability processes. This has renewed threats to survivors and victims and deepened the sense of insecurity and the persistence of impunity.²¹

Former al-Nusra detainee, Theo Padnos, accused the new regime of ‘fostering a genocidal culture against minorities’ and acting like a ‘fox in the hen house observing that they’ve eaten quite a few chickens…’.

Most importantly in the wider arena, Padnos was held and tortured in the detention centre directly controlled by Ahmed al-Sharaa. The al-Nusra leader had also been present when Padnos was blindfolded and made to undergo extreme torture and constant psychological abuse. He was held for 22 months, half starved, ridden with lice, and underwent nothing less than al- Assad’s detainees documented by Casear. He was witness to the torture, beating to death and execution of other prisoners held in the same locations by al-Nusra.

Theo Padnos’s biographical account of this time, Blindfold – A Memoir of Kidnap, Torture and Enlightenment details every inhumane aspect of this abuse – meted out just because he was American. As he emphasises, Alwaites and others were executed because if was ‘God’s Will’ – just as Al Sharaa’s regime in Damascus continues to do now. ²²

The Suited Caliph (of al-Sham) – Part Two

1 https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/070825/ussama-uthman-l-homme-par-qui-le-monde-connu-les-atrocites-syriennes
2 https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204397704577070850124861954
3 https://nrls.net/en/?p=989 rojava centre for strategic studies
4 https://english.aawsat.com/features/5096730-%E2%80%98sam……
5 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/world/middleeast/assad-regime-crimes-syria-documents.html
6 https://snhr.org/blog/2019/10/21/54362/
7 https://www.carter-ruck.com/images/uploads/documents/Syria_Report-January_2014.pdf
8 https://www.justiceinitiative.org/litigation/federal-prosecutors-office-v-anwar-r
9 https://pro-justice.org/uncategorized/news_views/reports/inside-the-anwar-raslan-trial-the-first-four-days.html
10 https://syriaaccountability.org/inside-the-raslan-trial-state-secrets-and-mass-graves/
11 https://pro-justice.org/uncategorized/news_views/reports/inside-the-anwar-raslan-trial-the-first-four-days.html
12 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/5/18/former-syrian-intelligence-officer-denies-torturing-prisoners
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 BKA agent Deußing worked on the Caesar files
16 https://syriaaccountability.org/inside-the-raslan-trial-how-the-s…
17 https://www.euaa.europa.eu/coi/syria/2025/country-focus/21-individuals-perceived-have-supported-former-government/211-targeting-interim-government
18 https://snhr.org/blog/2026/01/01/the-death-of-3338-individuals-including………
19 https://www.syriahr.com/en/375928/
20 See: https://sana.sy/fr/breaking-news/2278386/
21 https://stj-sy.org/en/syrias-transitional-phase-honor-killings-persist-amid-failing-protection-and-legal-response/
19 See: https://www.france24.com/en/video/20251208-syrian-president-al-sharaa-fostered-a-genocidal-culture-against-minorities-former-hostage-says
22 https://www.france24.com/en/video/20251208-syrian-president-al-sharaa-fostered-a-genocidal-culture-against-minorities-former-hostage-says

Sheri Laizer, a Middle East and North African expert specialist and well known commentator on the Kurdish issue. She is a senior contributing writer for iKurd.net. More about Sheri Laizer see below.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.

Copyright © 2026 Sheri Laizer, iKurd.net. All rights reserved