The head of the Syrian insurgent group responsible for toppling the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad declared on Wednesday that persons previously associated with the persecution of dissidents will be pursued and held accountable.
In a statement issued via a state-run Telegram account, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader, Abu Mohammad al-Golani, cautioned ex-regime officials, saying, "We will not pardon those involved in torturing the detainees and liquidating them."
Al-Golani further indicated that his functionaries are actively seeking out individuals who committed these crimes, while urging nations harboring other perpetrators to send them back to face justice in his courts.
This policy follows a directive from Syria’s interim administration to dissolve the existing security apparatus and shut down the detention facilities used in the abuse and death of hundreds of thousands who opposed the Assad family’s decades-long rule.
It remains uncertain what legal consequences Bashar al-Assad himself will encounter, as he currently resides in Moscow under asylum granted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The United Kingdom-based Syrian Network for Human Rights has called for his return "to the custody of the new Syrian authorities to face a fair trial in Syria."
