The Legal Documentation of the Karabatna Massacre, Date of the incident: 1/9/2012, Kafarbatna is a Syrian rural town that is administrated by the province of Rural Damascus. It has a population of 40,000 people.
The first chapter of the massacre started when army forces surrounded the town from the direction of the Ayn Turma Valley and Alshalati Way. These forces were joined by security forces, Shabiha thugs, and other regime loyalists with the support of army tanks. For a whole week, the town was being surrounded. For that entire period, Kafarbatna was being shelled with tanks shells and mortars which caused huge destruction. To anyone who knows the town, the destruction is very noticeable. The usual three-step operation was also used against the people of Kafarbatna by army forces, which is: shelling, invasion, then arrests and killings. On 31/8/2012, the army’s personnel and tanks invaded the besieged and destroyed town.
The shelling targeted the Ridah Mosque and the Fatih Hospital, which was later turned into a field hospital under the management of Qutaibah Barhamji. The army forces destroyed the field hospital and set it on fire late despite the presence of many wounded individuals in the hospital (three were in intensive care). Army personnel executed every single person they found in the field hospital, including Qutaibah. The bodies of the dead were mutilated in unprecedented ways.
Other army and security personnel broke into houses and executed whoever they found. Not only that, but they also wrote on the bodies of the dead “Either Assad, or nobody”.
In this invasion, 36 people were killed and 240 wounded. The Syrian Network for Human Rights from documenting the events through its activist in Rural Damascus. If any international organization would like any clarification regarding the documented information, they directly communicate with the network or with the witness “Abu Hasan” at black_lion411.
We were able to document 34 names, and two other severely scarred bodies which we could not identify.
Names of the victims:
- Khalid Alaraj
- Iyad Alaraj
- Amer Alaraj (child)
- Ranim Alaraj (age: one year and a half)
- Mohammed Obaid
- Bayan Obaid
- Doaa Obaid (10 years)
- Mohammed Saeed Anaya
- Mohammed bin Kamal Dufda’
- Khalid Baderedin
- Marwan Aldaqqaq
- Raed Safiya
- Zuhair Almarji
- Mohammed Deeb Almarji
- Alaa bin Mohammed Deeb Almarji
- Mohammed Alhindi
- Ahmed Mahmoud Abu Alhawa
- Wisam Mohammed Alali (he was executed in front of his family and his father was detained)
- Bashir Asker
- Faisal Abu Alayl
- Qutaibah Barhamji
- Khalid Alkhateeb
- Yusuf Zaino
- Samer Wahbah
- Ahmed Wahbah
- Bashar Haboush
- Mahran Dufda’
- Imad Hamsho
- Ahmed Zaino
- Tariq Marzouq
- Mohammed Farouq Hadid
- Mohammed Mohammed Ali (Wisam’s father)
- Ghasan Dufda’
- Fawaz Balour
- Unidentified
- Unidentified
Attached Material:
The discovery of a collective grave in which three people, who were summarily executed, were buried. The bodies bore torture marks and only one was known to be Mohammed bin Farouq Alhadid.
Mass graves and summary executions.
Massacres against civilians in Kafarbatna.
A mass grave of people who extrajudicially executed.
A victim who was summarily executed in front of his family.
Massacres and executions.
Bodies of people who were executed that bare torture marks.
A victim who was executed in his home during the massacre.
A photo of Wisam Mohammed. “Either Assad or no one” was written on his forehead.
A victim who was extrajudicially executed.
The nurse, Qutaiba Barhamji, refused to evacuate the hospital for the sake the wounded.
The victims of the discovered massacre.
A photo of a handcuffed victim who was summarily executed.
Victims who were wounded and then executed summarily.
Documentation of the Destruction:
Army forces targeted ambulances with their gunfire.
Army forces set the Fatih field hospital on fire.
Army forces burnt businesses and homes.
An army tank shelled the Ridah Mosque on 30/8/2012.
We, in the Syrian Network for Human Rights, blatantly condemn this horrific massacre and all the massacres that preceded it. All these crimes, which the Syrian people are being subject to hourly, are categorized as violations of human rights. We hold the Syrian government and army, which are both lead by Bashar Alassad, fully responsible for these crimes. We also demand that the Security Council and the UN take swift action and make decisions in order to protect the civilians in Syria. We call upon the UN and the Security Council to live up to their claimed moral and legal responsibilities and to work towards bringing those responsible for crimes in Syria to the International Criminal Court.
Syrian Network for Human Rights – London
Website: www.syrianhr.org
Email: press@syrianhr.org
Skype: Syrianhr