Hidden in Plain Sight: Syrian War Criminals in the Netherlands
27th May 2023
Dozens of torturers who served Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government have evaded the Dutch immigration authorities’ notice and are walking about freely in the Netherlands, according to a recent investigation.
The matter was brought to light by news outlet Trouw and radio program Argos. Their investigation, published on May 19th, relies on testimony from Syrian refugees who had fled their country due to the Syrian civil war who claim to have encountered their former torturers while in the Netherlands.
Among these is Rehab Abdulftah, who in 2013 was detained for five months in the particularly brutal “Branch 227” in Damascus, which was run by the Syrian military secret service. While walking in Amsterdam, Abdulftah saw one of her former jailers. “Everything that had happened in Syria came back to me, I cried and ran away,” she said, adding that she did not dare go to the police.