The Syrian Future Movement followed with great interest the announcement issued by the Syrian Ministry of Justice on October 3, 2025, which included the cancellation of prosecutions in more than 287,000 cases, covering 68 types of crimes, including demonstrations, weapons possession, money exchange, and facilitating escape. The move excludes cases classified as serious felonies or those that affect personal rights.
The Syrian Future Movement, while welcoming this step, considers it an initial step in a long process toward achieving the desired transitional justice. It emphasizes the following:
- Importance of the decision: This announcement represents a symbolic step toward correcting legal injustices that have affected tens of thousands of Syrians and reflects the beginning of an official recognition of the importance of addressing the effects of the security and judicial policies that prevailed during the years of the former regime.
- The necessity of transparency: The Syrian Future Movement calls for the publication of a detailed list of the types of crimes exempted and for clarification of the criteria used in classifying “serious felonies,” ensuring that these exceptions are not used as a tool to reactivate prosecutions against dissidents or activists.
- Judicial Independence: The Syrian Future Movement emphasizes that the success of any step within the framework of transitional justice requires radical reform of the Syrian judiciary and ensuring its complete independence from the security and military apparatuses, including the complete and unequivocal termination of the role of the military judiciary in civil cases.
- Compensation for Victims: The Syrian Future Movement calls for the launch of a national program to compensate those harmed by these prosecutions, both financially and morally, and to ensure the rehabilitation of all those deprived of their rights due to arbitrary or illegal decisions.
- Civil Society Involvement: The Syrian Future Movement emphasizes the need to involve civil society organizations, lawyers’ unions, and independent human rights bodies in monitoring the implementation of the decision and ensuring that individual rights are not violated again.
The Syrian Future Movement views this decision as an opportunity to build trust between citizens and institutions and calls for transforming it from a procedural step into a genuine gateway to a transitional phase based on justice, accountability, and national reconciliation.
The Syrian Future Movement affirms its full readiness to cooperate with all relevant national and international parties to ensure that this step is part of a comprehensive process toward a free and just Syria.
