NEW SANCTIONS ON ASSAD AIM TO PREVENT ATROCITIES
DAVID ADESNIKJUNE 26, 2020
COMMENTARY
In 2013, the regime of Bashar al-Assad received a report that opposition forces had captured and killed an employee of the defense ministry. That report was false. The man — a
photographer from the ministry’s Criminal Forensics Division — had faked his own death. He moved from one hiding place to another within Syria. Then he crossed into Jordan, hidden in the bed of a truck along with his camera, and several flash drives containing proof of the Assad government’s crimes.
In exile, the photographer acquired the code name Caesar. He brought with him
55,000 digital images that show emaciated and mangled corpses — victims of torture and murder at the hands of Syria’s intelligence services. The FBI’s Digital Evidence Laboratory
verified the images, which have become part of displays at the Capitol, the United Nations, the European Parliament, and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Last December, the president signed into law the
Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, which congressional leaders embedded in their annual defense authorization bill. The law took effect on June 17. That morning, the U.S. Departments of State and Treasury
announced the
first tranche of new sanctions. The targets included three Syrian businessmen and six companies that have entered into partnerships with the Assad regime to pursue real estate developments worth tens of millions of dollars.
