Human Rights Watch: Confiscating the property of those who failed to participate in military service aims to punish opponents of the Assad regime
Human Rights Watch commented in an article by researcher Sarah Kayali, on the Assad regime’s decision to confiscate the property of those who failed to pay heavy fines, as the last step in punishing opponents of the Assad regime.
The organization said that the new Assad regime’s decision brought back to light a forgotten amendment amending Article 97 of the “Military Service in Syria” law to allow the immediate confiscation of the property of those who do not serve in the Assad regime forces and have not paid the lost service allowance of 8 thousand US dollars within three months after
They reach the age of 43 and leave the reserve.
The organization explained: “In the past, the law required conditional confiscation of the property of those who abstained from paying the allowance for missing service and is subject to a court decision, but the amendment enables the Ministry of Finance to immediately confiscate individuals’ properties and sell them without notice or without giving them the opportunity to object to the decision.”
She noted, “Although the Military Service Law applies to men only, the law enables the government to confiscate the property of wives, children and other direct relatives of the person concerned until the sources of these funds are verified.”
She indicated: “The law not only violates basic due process guarantees, but also places additional obstacles for Syrians considering returning to their homeland, and many men have left Syria to escape military service that not only exposes them to the risk of death but also leads to their participation in gross violations of their rights.
The person who has tarnished the actions of the Syrian army since the outbreak of the conflict.
She pointed out that “many refugees do not have any means to pay fines for evading military service, as the Syrian refugees, mostly in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, live in difficult and unprecedented economic conditions resulting from the impact of the Corona virus outbreak on economies that were already marginalizing refugees.”
The organization stressed that the Assad regime is trying to collect money as it can, even by confiscating the property of people who fail to pay because of their inability to do so, and that this law is only the last step in the chain of policies of the Assad regime, whose aim is to punish political opponents and Syrians who have fled, and to enrich the al-Assad regime that is wandering from
Money of frustrated Syrians who are already facing a set of crises.
