Syrian defector who documented Assad’s atrocities returning to Washington

By Josh Rogin
March 17

35 'Caesar' photographs on display at the United Nations. Photo: cnn.com

The Syrian defector known as “Caesar,” who brought the world the largest trove of evidence of mass atrocities perpetrated by the regime of Bashar al-Assad, is returning to Washington this weekend. Three years after he helped expose some of the worst war crimes of our generation, the victims of those crimes are still a long way from getting justice. From 2011 to 2013, Caesar worked as a military photographer in the Syrian army, forced to meticulously document the torture and murder of thousands of men, women and children inside Assad’s jails. When he fled Syria in 2013, he brought with him over 55,000 images that show the killing of over 11,000 civilians in custody, along with documents detailing the Syrian government’s highly organized system of mass murder. The photos, some of which were released publicly in 2014, show bodies starved, tortured and mutilated. The Syrian government kept detailed records. Assad’s “machinery of death” was the worst since the Nazis, the State Department’s ambassador-at-large for war crimes Stephen Rapp said at the time.

Now, Caesar is returning to the United States with a simple question: What progress has been made? For those pushing for accountability, justice and a halt to the slaughter, the sad answer is not enough. Action by the International Criminal Court has been blocked for years by Russia, which can veto referrals at the U.N. Security Council. For Caesar, his hope is that his efforts and his sacrifices won’t go to waste. He now lives in exile in a European country with no means of making a living and in constant fear the Assad regime will exact retribution against him, his family or his friends. The very least Washington can do is let him know that the United States will do everything it can to make sure his evidence does matter, said Rapp. “This administration needs to support this effort These are enormous crimes. It’s never too late for justice as long as there are surviving witnesses and people to prosecute. That’s why Caesar’s visit is important now.”

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Rogue Valley said:

Syrian defector who documented Assad’s atrocities returning to Washington


I have viewed some of the pictures smuggled out of Syria by Caesar. Men, women, and children. Some of the dead were terribly emaciated ... starved to death. But most bodies bore testimony to the cruelest of tortures.

One thing is certain. We can't say we didn't know. Human Rights Watch | If The Dead Could Speak: Mass Deaths and Torture in Syria’s Detention Facilities

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