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An
Executioner for Syria's Rebels Tells His Story
The
Burial Brigade of Homs
By
Ulrike Putz in Beirut
29
July, 2012
Human
Rights Watch has condemned abuses committed by Syrian rebels in their
stronghold of Homs. But one member of a rebel "burial brigade"
who has executed four men by slitting their throats defended his work
in an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE. "If we don't do it, nobody
will hold these perpetrators to account," he said.
Hussein
can barely remember the first time he executed someone. It was
probably in a cemetery in the evening, or at night; he can't recall
exactly. It was definitely mid-October of last year, and the man was
Shiite, for sure. He had confessed to killing women -- decent women,
whose husbands and sons had protested against Syrian President Bashar
Assad's regime. So the rebels had decided that the man, a soldier in
the Syrian army, deserved to die, too.
Hussein
didn't care if the man had been beaten into a confession, or that he
was terrified of death and had begun to stammer prayers. It was his
tough luck that the rebels had caught him. Hussein took out his army
knife and sliced the kneeling man's neck. His comrades from the
so-called "burial brigade" quickly interred the
blood-stained corpse in the sand of the graveyard west of the Baba
Amr area of the rebel stronghold of Homs. At the time, the
neighborhood was in the hands of the insurgents.
That
first execution was a rite of passage for Hussein. He now became a
member of the Homs burial brigade. The men, of which there are only a
handful, kill in the name of the Syrian revolution. They leave
torture to others; that's what the so-called interrogation brigade is
for. "They do the ugly work," says Hussein, who is
currently being treated in a hospital in the Lebanese city of
Tripoli. He was injured when a piece of shrapnel became lodged in his
back during the army's ground invasion of Baba Amr in early March.
He
is recovering in relatively safe Lebanon until he can return to Syria
and "get back to work." It's a job he considers relatively
clean. "Most men can torture, but they're not able to kill from
close range," he explains. "I don't know why, but it
doesn't bother me. That's why they gave me the job of executioner.
It's something for a madman like me."
Before
he joined the Farouk Brigade, as the Baba Amr militia is known, last
August, the 24-year-old had worked as a salesman. "I can sell
everything, from porcelain to yogurt," he says.
How
the Rebels Lost Their Innocence
The
bloody uprising against the Assad regime has now lasted for a year.
And Hussein's story illustrates that, in this time, the rebels have
also lost their innocence.
There
are probably many reasons for that development. Hussein can rattle
off several of them. "There are no longer any laws in Syria,"
he says. "Soldiers or thugs hired by the regime kill men, maim
children and rape our women. If we don't do it, nobody will hold
these perpetrators to account."
Another
reason, he explains, is the desire for vengeance. "I have been
arrested twice. I was tortured for 72 hours. They hung me by the
hands, until the joints in my shoulders cracked. They burnt me with
hot irons. Of course I want revenge."
His
family, too, has suffered. He explains that he lost three uncles, all
murdered by the regime. "One of them died with his five
children," he says. "Their murderers deserve no mercy."
Most
chillingly, Hussein believes that violence is simply in the nature of
his society. "Children in France grow up with French, and learn
to speak it perfectly," he says. "We Syrians were brought
up with the language of violence. We don't speak anything else."
But
in spite of all the rebels' justification for their brand of
self-administered justice, Hussein's actions fall under what the
non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch on Tuesday condemned
as "serious human rights abuses" on the part of the Syrian
rebels. In the corridors of the hospital in Tripoli, Hussein and his
fellow injured comrades speak openly about the fact that they, just
like the regime's troops, torture and kill. They find the criticism
from the human rights activists unfair: "We rebels are trying to
defend the people. We're fighting against slaughterers. When we catch
them, we must strike hard," says one fighter, who goes by the
nom de guerre Abu Rami.
Alternative
Justice System
Over
the course of the last year, Homs had developed into the unofficial
capital of the revolution. Until a few weeks ago, the rebels
controlled whole neighborhoods of the city, especially the district
of Baba Amr. But that area was overrun by government troops in early
March. The fight between rebels and government forces has now shifted
to the neighboring district of Khalidiya.
According
to Abu Rami and Hussein, the alternative justice system that the
rebels set up in Homs last fall remains intact. "When we catch
regime supporters, they are brought before a court martial,"
they say. The commander of the rebels in Homs, Abu Mohammed, presides
over the court. He is assisted by Abu Hussein, the head of the
coordinating committee. "Sometimes even more men act as a jury,"
says Hussein. The interrogation brigade reports on the confessions of
the accused. Often the suspects even had videos on their cell phones
that showed atrocities being perpetrated against insurgents, the men
say. "In that situation, their guilt is established quickly."
In the event of a conviction, the prisoners are then handed over to
Hussein's burial brigade, which takes them to gardens or to the
cemetery. And then Hussein comes along with his knife.
So
far, Hussein has cut the throats of four men. Among the group of
executioners in Homs, he is the least experienced -- something that
he almost seems apologetic about. "I was wounded four times in
the last seven months," he says. "I was out of action for a
long time." On top of that, he also has other commitments. "I
operate our heavy machine gun, a Russian BKC. Naturally I have killed
a lot more men with that. But only four with the blade." That
will change soon, he says. "I hope I will be released from the
hospital next week and can return to Homs. Then those dogs will be in
for it."
'Sometimes
We Acquit People'
The
rebels in Homs began carrying out regular executions in August of
last year, shortly after the conflict in the country began to
escalate, says Hussein's comrade Abu Rami. In his Adidas tracksuit,
he looks like any other convalescent in the hospital. But Abu Rami is
a senior member of the Homs militia. The other Syrians in the ward
greet him respectfully and pay close attention to his words.
"Since
last summer, we have executed slightly fewer than 150 men, which
represents about 20 percent of our prisoners," says Abu Rami.
Those prisoners who are not convicted and sentenced to death are
exchanged for rebel prisoners or detained protesters, he says. But
the executioners of Homs have been busier with traitors within their
own ranks than with prisoners of war. "If we catch a Sunni
spying, or if a citizen betrays the revolution, we make it quick,"
says the fighter. According to Abu Rami, Hussein's burial brigade has
put between 200 and 250 traitors to death since the beginning of the
uprising.
He
dismisses any doubts about whether these people were really all
guilty and whether they received a fair trial. "We make great
efforts to investigate thoroughly," Abu Rami says. "Sometimes
we acquit people, too."
Apart
from anything else, it is simply the nature of every revolution to be
bloody, Abu Rami explains. "Syria is not a country for the
sensitive."
