(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
It was unexpected, but still very predictable. The Arab revolutions in 2011 seemed to come out of the blue, but were not difficult to understand at the same time; the repressive regimes in the Arab world had been on loan for a long time.
Despite differences from one country to another, internal security forces were important in controlling most Arab states. Mukhabarat ("Intelligence service") was a term people feared – and also suffered from – in many Arab countries. Some of these were more effective and brutal than others, but all kept an eye on their own citizens rather than with foreign governments.
Everyone knows what "mukhabarat" means in the Arab countries: to disappear and be tortured. As the 2011 revolutions spread across national borders, it became clear that the mukhabarat had lost its former grip on power – the people were tired. Demonstrations for democracy and human rights showed that fear had been defeated and that people had been given the taste of freedom.
Syria's extreme regime. But developments in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Libya followed a different pattern than in Syria. The Mukhabarat in all the countries were brutal, but few more brutal than the Syrian. The regime had long shown a willingness to fight its political opponents by all means, such as destroying the city of Hama in 1982 to get rid of the resistance of the Muslim Brotherhood and resort to boundless violence, including an intensified prison system where disappearances and torture were commonplace . This was not a war against Islamists or terrorists, as the regime claimed, but a war on internal, popular political opposition. And this continues. Today, thousands of Assad's political opponents are still in prison.
Countless evidence. The documentary Syria's Disappeared – The Case Against Assad follows the war on democracy activists, which eventually developed into a civil war. Director Sarah Afshar, a former reporter for BBC Newsnight, among others, has gathered huge amounts of evidence against Assad's regime. But "no court will take the case," according to the interviews with legal experts. Syria is not bound by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, and the UN Security Council has no agreement to refer the case to the ICC (Russia and China have vetoed).
Films are part of an attempt to find prosecutors in countries willing to sue officials who have carried out torture and murder in the name of the regime.
Nevertheless, lawsuits can be filed in national courts against some of the Assad regime's officials. Films are part of an attempt to find prosecutors in countries willing to sue civil servants who have carried out torture and murder in the name of the regime. It is first and foremost the legal aspect of the film that can have the greatest practical impact. Syria's Disappeared – The Case Against Assad hopefully helps to create momentum for issues raised in countries such as Spain, Sweden and Germany. The film also documents the attempt to raise a new type of transnational lawsuit that is necessary for countries that want to avoid ending up as safe havens for war criminals.
Incredible disorders. The film should be seen by anyone interested in the Middle East and human rights. Oslo Dokumentarkino has preceded NRK and other major TV channels with screenings at Filmens Hus in Oslo in October. But the documentary is as created for the television medium and more people should have the opportunity to watch it on the television screen.
The facts it presents are almost unbelievable. "Suffering" is a word that is far from adequate for what the film documents: crimes of a scope that is as gruesome as sensational. But for those with some knowledge of the Syrian regime before the unrest began, the pattern is well known. This was, among other things, what the revolution in 2011 was trying to end. Instead of responding to popular protests by easing repression, the Assad regime pushed it to industrial levels. The Case Against Assad is a description of what happens when an evil, repressive political system is mobilized against its own people. The film is a historical document on the systematic crimes against humanity that take place in today's Syria. Pictures of the victims, notes and e-mails are some of the material collected and now available to prosecutors willing to prosecute regime officials.
The voices of the victims. In the film, survivors and the families of the victims urge the world to turn their attention to the thousands of prisoners who remain imprisoned in Assad's torture factories. The film weaves together first-hand witness stories with legal expert analysis in an exemplary way. Director Afshar devotes a lot of time to the voices of the victims, both so that we can hear about what is actually going on and so that the victims themselves can define what can constitute justice. This grip makes the film even better.
This was not a war against Islamists or terrorists, as the regime claimed, but a war against internal, popular political opposition.
It is difficult not to see the parallels between the Nazi camps during World War II and the camps built during the war in the former Yugoslavia. In both cases, war tribunals tried to prosecute the perpetrators afterwards. In Syria, we face a double challenge: to free thousands of prisoners still in Assad's prisons, and to prepare the case against the perpetrators. The Case Against Assad is an important contribution to both.
