300 Thousand People Missing During Five Decades Of Assad Family In Syria

Syrian refugees return to their homeland. (Wikimedia Commons/Anatolian Agent)

JAKARTA - The Syrian Commission for Missing Persons estimates hundreds of thousands of people have been missing in Syria since the Assad family began ruling the country in the 1970s.

The commission estimates between 120,000 and 300,000 people have been missing between 1970, when Hafez Al Assad came to power, to date.

"Maybe more," said Mohammed Reda Jalkhi, head of the agency formed in May, to the Government's Sana news agency, as reported by The National August 19.

Furthermore, it said tens of thousands of people were missing or detained during the Syrian civil war, which broke out in 2011 following a crackdown on anti-government protests, when the country was ruled by Bashar Al Assad, the son of Hafez.

Under the Assad family government, Syria operates a notorious violent detention system. One of them is the famous Sednaya Prison, which is a 'symbol' of forced disappearance of people without traces.

The new Syrian government under President Ahmad Al Shara has pledged to uphold justice for the atrocities committed by the Assad regime.

Assad's regime ended after being ousted in December by a lightning strike led by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham.

During the civil war in Syria, all parties were accused of carrying out attacks on civilians.

"We have maps covering more than 63 documented mass graves in Syria," Jalkhi said, without providing details of the location, who was buried, or who was suspected of being buried there, adding work was being done to build a data bank of missing persons.

Jalkhi said a national conference would be held on the needs and rights of missing persons' families, to bring together Syrian and international organizations, with Syrian personnel having been awarded European scholarships in the field of forensic medicine and documentation.

He stressed that the commission's work was "important for the transitional justice and civil peace process" and described the missing person's issue as "one of Syria's most complicated and painful issues".