The Ministry of Finance of the Presidency of the Ministers Council, under the Syrian government, passed a resolution that provides for the cautionary seizure of the movable and immovable money of 13 persons from Daraa province on the pretext of “being proven involved in the terrorist actions the country is witnessing.” The resolution was issued on September 19, 2018, to be generalized only lately. According to testimonies obtained by Syrians for Truth and Justice/STJ, some of the persons, whom the seizure order addresses, are former military commanders, doctors and activists at civil society organizations, including two persons who died five years prior to the passed resolution.
The text of the resolution shows that it has been passed by the Ministry of Finance, based on an official letter from the National Security Bureau, numbered 1446/11 and dated September 18, 2018. The resolution came in accordance with Legislative Decree No. 203 of 2016, Decree No. 63, dated September 16, 2012, and Decree No. 1684, dated August 7, 1977, in addition to Decree No. 2574 of August 30, 2018.
The resolution ordered the imposition of cautionary seizure on the movable and immovable money of the following persons: Sari al-Masalmeh, Mohammad al-Masalmeh, Walid Mohammad, Maher al-Masalmeh, Ahmad Abzaid, Ismail Qudsiat, Abdulhakim al-Mahameed, Mamoun al-Hariri, Fawaz Tarboush, Sabah al-Hindawi, Hassan Abazaid, Mohammad al-Falouji and Samer al-Hamad, on the allegation of “being involved in the terrorist actions the country is witnessing.”
Several local sources told STJ that Sari al-Masalmeh is a former commander of the Liwa al-Tahrir/Liberation Legion, dissolved into the 18 March Division, active in the city of Daraa and affiliated with the armed opposition. His brother, Mohammad al-Masalmeh, was a militant under the same legion. Mamoun al-Harir, however, was a doctor, and Hassan Abazaid was a surgeon in the Daraa Filed Hospital.
The sources added that Mohammad al-Falouji’s house was a headquarters for the local coordination groups, while he was a former militant of the armed opposition groups. For his turn, Fawaz Tarboush worked for a civil society organization, called Afak/Horizons.
According to the same local sources, Samer Mahmoud al-Hamad is a dead doctor, killed on November 24, 2012, in a shooting he was exposed to in a Syrian regular forces’ ambush. Maher Hussain al-Maslameh, however, died on January 20, 2013.
Concerning the resolution, a humanitarian organization worker,[1] told STJ the following on October 14, 2018:
“Many rumors spin around similar seizure draft resolutions against many of the people who left the province towards Syria’s north, particularly those who worked for the civil society organizations, including the Syrian Civil Defense/White Helmets, for there is a massive concern over their property being seized, which they also cannot sell, especially since the province’s people fear to purchase their properties because they might be ‘foreclosed’ by the Syrian government or that they [themselves] might be subjected to harassment or investigation for buying these real-estate and properties from ‘prosecuted’ persons.”
[1] The witness is a humanitarian organization worker, who has been displaced to Idlib province in accordance with the reconciliation deal, conducted in Daraa province. His name and title were not revealed at his request.