Responding to the recent decision of the Autonomous Administration of the North and East Syria Region (autonomous authorities) to issue Amnesty Law No. (10) of 2024, providing relief for some individuals who were convicted of crimes under the region’s overly broad counter-terrorism laws, or those who surrender themselves within 90 days of the date the amnesty law becomes effective, Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa office, said:
“The general amnesty law could reduce the sentences of Syrians convicted after unfair trials in the People’s Defence Courts, or, in some cases, offer them the chance to be free and resume their lives. Detainees were denied access to a lawyer and in many cases were subjected to torture or other ill-treatment to extract forced confessions. Amnesty International calls for the autonomous authorities to expand the law to include the small number of Iraqis who have also been prosecuted in the People’s Defence Courts.
“While encouraged by this step, Amnesty International remains deeply concerned about the tens of thousands of men, women and children in the custody of the autonomous authorities, many of whom have been held for more than five years without charge or trial.
“The United Nations must swiftly coordinate with the autonomous authorities and the US-led military coalition, established to defeat the Islamic State armed group, to conduct an urgent screening to identify individuals who should be investigated and prosecuted for crimes under international law or serious crimes under domestic law, and to release all those remaining, prioritizing at-risk groups such as children and victims of trafficking.”
Background
In the five years following the 2019 territorial defeat of the Islamic State (IS) armed group by the Syrian Democratic Forces and US-led military coalition to defeat IS, the autonomous authorities have prosecuted more than 9,600 Syrians and a small number of Iraqis allegedly connected to IS in their People’s Defence Courts. They have also indefinitely and arbitrarily detained – without charge or trial – tens of thousands of men, women and children for their perceived affiliation to IS in at least 27 detention facilities and two detention camps.
In April 2024, Amnesty International released Aftermath: Injustice, Torture and Death in Detention in North-east Syria, which documents the large-scale and systematic violation of the rights of the individuals caught in this system of detention. Many people have been held in inhumane conditions and subjected to torture or other ill-treatment. Men, women and children who have been tried in the People’s Defence Courts have faced numerous fair trial rights violations, including being subjected to torture to induce forced confessions and a total lack of legal representation.
Given the widespread fair trial rights violations in the People’s Defence Courts, Amnesty International had previously called for the autonomous authorities to consider a targeted amnesty for those who have been convicted under the counter-terrorism laws applied in north-east Syria, whenever there is a lack of sufficient evidence to reasonably suspect them of having committed a crime under international law or a serious crime under domestic law.