On the fourteenth anniversary of the Daraya massacre, the Syrian Future Movement stands in reverence for the souls of the hundreds of Syrians who perished in one of the most horrific massacres perpetrated by the defunct Assad regime against the Syrian people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On August 25, 2012, after days of siege, power and communications blackouts, shelling, and raids, the military campaign against Daraya reached its peak. The city witnessed killings, summary executions, and home invasions, resulting in over seven hundred victims. Hundreds were documented by name, while others remain unidentified or their fate unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daraya was not merely a military target; it was a city known for its civil and peaceful activism since the beginning of the Syrian revolution. Therefore, targeting it was an attempt to punish an entire community for demanding freedom and dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, fourteen years later, this anniversary is different from previous ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The regime that committed the massacre has fallen, and the fear that prevented the victims’ families from raising their children’s names has been broken. The new Syrian state now faces the challenge of moving from commemorating the past to achieving justice. We in the Syrian Future Movement, while appreciating the National Commission for Transitional Justice’s affirmation that the Daraya massacre is a crime that does not expire with time, and the visit of the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General to the city and their meeting with the families of the victims and survivors, believe that true redress for Daraya is not achieved through words, visits, and commemorations, but rather through establishing a clear legal process that reaches all those who ordered, planned, carried out, and participated in this crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Therefore, the Syrian Future Movement affirms the following:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n First: The rights of the victims of the Daraya massacre and their families are fundamental rights that cannot be subject to political bargaining or reconciliation that disregards the rights holders, and they do not lapse with a change of power or the passage of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second: We call for the completion of documenting the names of the victims, the missing, and the detainees, collecting testimonies from survivors, protecting witnesses, and preserving evidence and documents, thus transforming the memory of the massacre into a comprehensive legal case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Third: We demand that accountability be pursued at all levels. Justice should not stop with those who directly carried out the crimes, but must extend to those who issued the orders, planned, directed, covered up, and facilitated their commission, in accordance with the evidence, the provisions of the law, and a fair trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fourth: We reject revenge, just as we reject impunity. The justice we seek for Syria is not collective vengeance or condemnation without trial, but rather individual legal justice that preserves the rights of victims and, at the same time, safeguards the rule of law for which the Syrian people revolted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fifth: We call for Daraya to be considered a model national case in the transitional justice process, combining truth-seeking, accountability, reparations, preserving memory, revealing the fate of the missing, and guaranteeing that such events will not be repeated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sixth: The reconstruction of Daraya must not be limited to buildings, roads, and services; it also includes the reconstruction of people, memory, and rights. The city, which paid such a heavy price, has the right to genuine priority in reconstruction, the return of its people, and the restoration of their rights and properties. The Syrian Future Movement believes that the success of transitional justice in Syria will not be measured by the number of committees and statements issued, but rather by the extent to which the father of a martyr, the mother of a missing person, a former detainee, and a survivor of the massacre feel that the new state has heard their voice, preserved their rights, uncovered the truth, delivered justice to the victims, and held the perpetrators accountable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n May God have mercy on the martyrs of Daraya, and on all the martyrs of Syria. Justice for them is not a favor from anyone, but a national right that does not expire with time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 14th anniversary of the Daraya massacre serves as a reminder of the victims’ lives and the crimes of the Assad regime against the Syrian people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":67246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4685,179,4841],"tags":[4706],"class_list":["post-67248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-office-en","category-political-office-en","category-popular-base-office","tag-press-release"],"yoast_head":"\n