Shadi Haroun

Dismantling a dictatorship does not, by itself, dismantle its carceral logic. Reopening Assad-era prisons reflects the deeper struggle to build a new political and legal order—one grounded in accountability, the rule of law, and safeguards against abuse. reuters.com/investigations…

In a new 139-page report at the Observatory of Political and Economic Networks, Reinoud Leenders and Ali al-Jasem argue that targeted sanctions on regime officials, cronies, and front companies have effectively become the primary remaining tool to pursue justice for Assad-era crimes. While broad sanctions were correctly lifted to support recovery, the Observatory's assistants and authors meticulously tracked over the past year the fate and whereabouts of hundreds of sanctioned individuals and entities. Many of those who remained or returned have cut opaque deals with the new authorities, a practice scathingly criticized in the report, with details being documented for the first time about this critical phase. The authors are sensibly blunt in their conclusion: easing pressure on sanctioned persons without a clear transitional justice framework risks turning “stability” into permanent impunity. Recovery without accountability is not a positive transition; it’s a reset of old patterns. Full report: opensyr.com/en/pages/p-40

One year after Assad's fall, Syrians await transitional justice newarab.com/analysis/one-y…

السجن الكبير | وثائقي حصري جديد من TRT عربي

Canada removes Syria from its list of foreign state supporters of terrorism reuters.com/world/americas…

Assad's exiled spy chief and billionaire cousin plot Syrian uprisings from Russia reuters.com/investigations…

#Event | Tomorrow, ICTJ and its partners in the Bridges of Truth project will host an event in #Damascus to present findings from their recent #report on the community dialogues held in April in #Syria, and to commemorate the project’s 8th anniversary. ictj.org/latest-news/ic…

#فعالية | يقيم المركز الدولي للعدالة الانتقالية وشركاؤه في مشروع "جسور الحقيقة" حفلًا في #دمشق غداً من أجل عرض خلاصات من تقريرهم الأخير حول الحوارات المُجتمعية التي عُقدت في شهر أبريل في سوريا، كما من أجل الاحتفال بمرور ثمانية أعوام على تأسيس المشروع. ictj.org/ar/node/37874

A shadow committee is remaking Syria's economy with secret takeovers. The president’s brother is in charge. reuters.com/investigations…

Forget real action—let’s just follow the green lights and hope for the best. 🚦🚦Exclusive: Syria believed it had green light from US, Israel to deploy troops to Sweida🚦🚦 reuters.com/world/middle-e…

With sectarian violence on Syrian streets once again, my latest piece examines how a lack of accountability could fuel further unrest, destabilising Syria’s transition. Comments from @GregoryPWaters, @FADELABDULGHANY, and @ShadiHaroun for @The_NewArab newarab.com/analysis/how-s…

NEW -- in the past 4hrs, #Syria gov't forces have advanced to within ~3km of #Suwayda city -- taking control of 9+ villages & towns. Defense & Interior Ministry forces are involved & moves are afoot to begin entering #Suwayda from the north, west & south.

Billboard Spotted In Tel Aviv For The ‘Abraham’s Shield’ Plan To Work In Conjunction With The Abraham Accords That Will Ensure The Safety Of The Israel nowtheendbegins.com/abrahams-shiel…

Surviving Syria’s Prisons review – Unforgettably moving. This chilling film takes two activist brothers back to the hellish jails where they were held for almost a decade. Then it goes further – & tracks down the soldiers who tortured for the Assad regime buff.ly/4a3wIsM

الهروب من طهران

Painstaking and outstanding investigative work by @joshbakerstory @saraobeidat and @BBC bbc.com/news/articles/…

A Trillion-Dollar Delusion: The Strategic Suicide of Iran’s Clerical Regime Back in 2005, Iran’s economy was almost twice the size of Saudi Arabia’s. That was the year the Islamic Republic made the fateful choice to embark on its uranium enrichment journey, knowing full well the cost would be decades of sanctions and global isolation. Twenty years later, the bill has arrived. Iran has spent between $150 to $200 billion building its nuclear program. To shield that program from external pressure, it poured another $250 billion into a vast regional web of militant proxies: the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Iraqi militias, and foreign Shia fighters deployed in Syria to keep Assad in power. This was the defense perimeter for the nuclear dream. Then there are the indirect costs: $600 billion in lost oil revenues and broader economic damage caused by sanctions. Total cost? Over one trillion dollars. And for what? Today, Iran’s GDP has shrunk to under $400 billion. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Turkey - once trailing far behind - have surged ahead into trillion-dollar economies. Saudi Arabia’s GDP is now more than 2.5 times that of Iran. What began as a gamble for regional supremacy has ended in strategic and economic suicide. All of it - the nuclear program, the missile stockpiles, the militias - could now be dismantled in a matter of 20 hours, by a nation a fraction of Iran’s size and population. A trillion dollars and two decades reduced to rubble and ashes in under a day. This is not just failure. It is monumental, generational incompetence. And when the dust settles, the youth of Iran will see it clearly: a trillion reasons to rise up. To cast off the mullahs and the ayatollahs who hijacked their future. To reclaim a nation that should have been thriving, not chasing messianic fantasies fueled by eschatological narcotics and the mythology of a “Hidden Imam.” Because in the end, nothing was hidden - except the sheer magnitude of their stupidity. It wasn’t the Hidden Imam who emerged. It was the visible, undeniable truth: that Iran’s clerical leadership has dragged the country through 20 years of ruin, only to reveal, at the very end, their own utter, catastrophic incompetence.

'I’d Scream Louder': After Assad’s Fall, Brothers Return to Saydnaya Prison Where They Were To pbs.org/wgbh/frontline… via @frontlinepbs

They made thousands disappear. Now, the men who carried it out break their silence. bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00… @joshbakerstory @saraobeidat