Syrian human rights fighters are praised by civil rights defenders
Mazen Darwish founded the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) in 2004-one of many organizations that arose after Bashar al-Assad took power after his dead father Hafez in 2000. But the hope of a more open existence was quickly rushed. The repression increased and soon reminded the political climate again of the previous dictatorship.
In 2012, just under a year after the outbreak of the Syrian Revolution, Mazen Darwish was imprisoned together with the entire staff at the organization’s office in Damascus, including his wife Yara Bader. She was released after three months and then led the work for her husband’s release, which took three years. The couple was then forced into exile and settled in France.
When DN reaches the couple on Video from Paris has been just over four months since the tyrant al-Assad fled Syria. Yara Bader, 40, is still as happy as she was on December 8, but the anxiety is evident in her voice.
– That the Assad regime fell is the biggest thing that could happen to us. But we face major challenges. This positive change must be driven forward by us all, she says, emphasizing that everyone must contribute, even those who did not participate in the revolution.
Their joy over the fall of the regime has now been crowned with a new award. The Swedish Civil Rights Defender’s human rights award for 2025 is awarded to their organization.
In the motivation from Civil Rights Defenders, founded in Sweden in 1982, it says:
« In a country where the truth can cost you freedom – or life – the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression has never been silenced. For over twenty years they have tirelessly fought against oppression, revealed war crimes and kept perpetrators responsible – even from exile ».
Mazen Darwish, 51, says the price came on time.
– We have felt exhausted and frustrated. Interest in justice decreased, and Syria’s fate was reduced to a refugee issue. The core, the freedom and dignity of the Syrians, disappeared out of focus, he tells DN.
Yara Bader has chosen Not to return to Syria. The couple has refugee status in France. But Mazen Darwish couldn’t wait anymore. He entered the country via the same border crossing as he was smuggled out of Syria in 2015.
– I was wanted by several of the Assad regime authorities. Today we could laugh at it at the border. But ten years ago it was fatal, he says.
Once in his home country, he was met by a continued difficult economic reality. He demands that the US sanctions, which were introduced against the dictatorship, be lifted so that Syria can recover.
In the past 20 The years SCM has driven many heavy cases. Most proud is Mazen Darwish about the organization’s role in the fact that the UN 2023 decided to set up a body to investigate Syria’s missing persons-as well as the French arrest order against Bashar al-Assad which was issued in 2024.
But one of the couple’s closest friends and colleagues, the award -winning human rights activist Razan Zaitouneh, is not celebrating the victory.
– « Blessed are those who reach the end, » Razan used to say, says Yara Bader, who lacks Zaitouneh and many other activist colleagues who died and disappeared during the war.
Zaitouneh was kidnapped in 2013 together with three colleagues in a suburb of Damascus. Their fate is still unknown. She was one of the first to document the regime’s abuse after the revolution broke out.
The situation in Syria Is quite fragile and much of what happens is ambiguous. The couple lacks an inclusive conversation about the country’s future, where both civil society and the people concerned are allowed to participate.
« Many important issues are not affected at all, especially not the transitional right, » says Mazen, who believes that responsibility must be claimed for the crimes committed.
– Justice to the victims is the key to sustainable peace and coexistence in Syria. Otherwise, we risk a civil war in the classic sense.
He also emphasizes the importance of documenting the country’s history, what happened under the Assad clan’s rule, especially during the last 14 war years.
What happens now – How will the organization relate to the new rulers in the country?
« It could very well be a real quarrel between us soon, » says Mazen with a smile.
– Our role will not be different than before. We will monitor the authorities’ work and drive for support for freedom and human rights.
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