In cooperation with the Syrian Government, the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) has conducted its first evidence collection in the Syrian Arab Republic.
The IIIM team was given access to visit and document the Al-Khatib detention facility, formerly operated by General Intelligence Branch 251. For years, survivors and former detainees have provided testimonies describing the widespread and systematic use of torture, cruel treatment, and inhumane conditions of detention at this facility.
The site still bears visible traces of the atrocities committed within its walls. The operation, conducted with the support of the Syrian Ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs, will contribute to ongoing and future judicial proceedings aimed at holding perpetrators accountable for their crimes.
By preserving sites of abuse and rigorously collecting evidence, the IIIM and Syrian authorities aim to support justice processes, upholding victims’ rights, and ensuring that grave violations are neither erased nor forgotten.