One by one the families appeared. Some had studied the video frame by frame to identify their loved one. Others immediately learned that one of the men killed in the Tadamon massacre was a member of their family who had disappeared nine long years ago.
Ten days after the Guardian uncovered a massacre carried out and filmed by Syrian forces on the outskirts of Damascus, a fuller picture emerged of the men killed and unusually outspoken family members demanded an answer to the shaky Syrian regime – which released several hundred prisoners in an apparent attempt to quell the cries.
A total of six men shown in their final moments in the horror video have already been identified. Many were Palestinians from the nearby Yarmouk refugee camp. Several more were locals. Their families have no idea why they were captured. But for the first time since the start of the war, authorities have come under pressure to respond to a boiling Syrian street.
The regime’s reaction so far has been to offer concessions; an amnesty law for non-murder terrorist offenses, an anti-torture law passed by a decree that many in Damascus consider almost ridiculed, and a new defense minister who has no ties to the security machine accused of leading the Tadamon massacre.
The first release of prisoners did not go exactly according to plan, if the regime’s intention was to represent a new benevolent country, when up to 20 men were released by truck from a prison in Damascus’s central square on Tuesday. Their faces were thin, pale skin, and their eyes stared blankly into the middle distance, the men looking like human remains, pale imitations of photographs held by family members who cried when they received them.
A vigil ensued for weeks, with thousands lining the streets of the Syrian capital waiting for prisoners in Bashar’s dungeons, in this case the infamous Sednaya Prison on the outskirts of the capital.
Meanwhile, members of the family of Tadamon’s victims have finally managed to hold their own vigils, as men they have long believed are lost in the darkness of Sednaya. Among them were the parents of Vasim Siam.
“I expected him to lose his eye, to be tortured, but I didn’t expect them to do that to him, that’s the worst thing,” his mother told Al Araby. “I thought he was being held by the regime. He left the house at 6 in the morning. I gave him his clothes, hung them to dry, he wore them and told him: please don’t leave. At 12.40 his phone came out of the cellular network. We asked the government for a family file and they found him alive. Justice must be restored. “
Siam’s father told Orient TV that he recognized his son by the way he ran: “My friend, who lives in the Netherlands, sent me this video and I watched it once, twice, three times and noticed that one of the they were running in a familiar way and it was my son. “Siam was 33 years old when he was killed and had two daughters, now aged 15 and 13.
His father told Orient Radio that he should tell his granddaughters. “On Monday, the first day of Eid … their grandmother appeared [the daughters] video and told them: this is your father. I lied to them and told them that their father was alive and working. One of them said to me, “Okay, but I just passed the exams, won’t he come and get me a present?”
The Facebook page, Yarmouk Camp News, contains more news about Siyam. A school friend, Rami Jalbut, who is now a lawyer, said: “He was hardworking. His grandfather owned the bakery and he worked in it, lived above it. He had a very special laugh and he was a very nice person. “
The next three identified victims are Turkmen Syrians Shaman al-Daher and his sons Omar and Mutlak. Omar and Shaman were identified as executed by family members who refused to give their names on the Zaman al-Wasl website. They also identified Mutlak, who they said was already dead in the pit.
The shaman was 63 years old and was arrested with his sons during an attack on his house on April 16, 2013, the day of the massacre.
The fifth identified victim is Luay al-Kabra, another resident of the Yarmouk refugee camp, according to the Palestinian Action Group for Syria. Louis was first aid and was reported missing earlier that month. Said Ahmad Khatab, a 27-year-old barber, was another Palestinian victim of Yarmouk. A friend said on Twitter that he was the grandson of the leader of the Palestinian uprising against Ergun in 1936.
“Today, 74 years after this massacre, I was forced to watch this video … and I saw Saeed’s grandson being executed in the same way as his grandfather, but this time by Arabs who claim to be resistance.
Yarmouk has long been held by the Syrian regime as a model for his commitment to the Palestinian cause. But the regime’s raids later in 2013 forced most of its residents to be expelled, some for a second time. Many remain in Lebanon for fear of returning.
Prof. Ugur Yumit Jungor of the Institute for Genocide and Holocaust Studies at the University of Amsterdam, who uncovered the massacre with his counterpart Ansar Shahhud, said the huge reaction to the revelations made him feel ambiguous. “You don’t want to traumatize people again and cause more suffering, but on the other hand, there’s no point in keeping bad news from people,” he said. “So this is the lesser evil, this is a subtle consolation, but that’s all I have.
“I can’t and don’t want to imagine the feelings of these family members the moment they saw the video and recognized their loved ones. I just hope this study puts an end to the terrifying feeling of endless waiting for the missing and hopefully now they can grieve for the person.
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