A human rights source revealed to Zaman al-Wasl shocking new details that refute the widely circulated narrative surrounding the acquisition of the recordings of the infamous "Tadamon Massacre."
The source confirmed that the video footage was not obtained through a cyberattack on the computer of regime forces aide Amjad Youssef, as claimed by the research team (Ansar Shahoud and Ugur Umit Ongur). Instead, it was handed over manually by two individuals directly involved in the crime.
In exclusive statements, the source explained that the two individuals who delivered the horrific footage were originally members of the regime forces, working in Branch 227 of the Military Intelligence Directorate. Their specific task was to film the massacres for the branch, and they also filmed the murder of Dr. Rania al-Abbasi's children.
The source added that the two men continued to serve within the regime's security apparatus throughout the years of the revolution before deciding to flee to Europe. He noted that this information was known to most human rights organizations that had dealt with them, but it had been kept strictly secret for some time.
The “Tadamon Massacre” as a Certificate of Absolution and a Travel Ticket
According to information provided by the human rights source, the two men exploited those horrific videos in 2016 as a “travel ticket” to secure their escape from Syria, in coordination and cooperation with the research team.
Consequently, the two men were able to reach Lebanon, and then travel to a European country where they obtained humanitarian asylum, benefiting from the crime they themselves documented. They are even currently working to complete the procedures for obtaining European citizenship.
In more serious detail, the source confirmed that the two men are currently being treated as “witnesses” rather than perpetrators. A government entity signed a document with them granting them immunity and exempting them from legal accountability, and they were considered “state witnesses” in exchange for handing over the videos.
The two men eventually confessed to filming dozens of other previously unknown massacres between 2011 and 2016, including similar massacres in the al-Tadamon neighborhood of al-Hajar al-Aswad in Damascus. They handed over the footage to Colonel Jamal Ismail, commander of the al-Tadamon and al-Zahra sectors in Damascus.
Human Rights Warnings of Impunity
The source expressed grave concern regarding the current legal proceedings, revealing that a human rights and legal organization (which he did not name) recently granted the two men immunity and classified them as witnesses, even though they are "in reality perpetrators and accomplices in documenting and carrying out these atrocities."
The source concluded: "Didn't anyone ask who was behind the camera while filming the massacres? Everyone in the frame was identified, yet the cameraman's name remained unknown!" He added: "In the other unreleased footage from al-Tadamon, one of the two men appears several times. Perhaps that's why they weren't released?! Not out of compassion for the victims' families."
Al-Hussein al-Shishakli
Zaman Al Wasl
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