Syria: Former justice who sent 'thousands' to death arrested

Syria's new authorities arrested a military justice official who issued death sentences for people held in the notorious Saydnaya prison under the ousted government of President Bashar Assad, a Syria war monitor said on Thursday.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Mohammed Kanjo Hassan was arrested in the Tartus province, a stronghold of Assad's clan, along with 20 members of his entourage.

The Observatory said that Kanjo Hassam issued "thousands" of sentences — including death sentences — for people held in Saydnaya.

Kanjo Hassan headed Syria's military field court from 2011 to 2014, the first three years of the country's civil war, according to Diab Serriya, co-founder of the Association of Detainees and Missing Persons of Saydnaya Prison (ADMSP).

Later on, Kanjo Hassan was promoted to chief of military justice across Syria, according to Serriya, who added that he sentenced "thousands of people" to death, often in "trials that lasted minutes."

The group believes that Kanjo Hassan made $150 million (€143 million) from bribes paid by relatives of detainees desperate for information on their loved ones.

Most Saydnaya inmates still missing
The Saydnaya complex a site of extrajudicial executions, torture and forced disappearances.

It is located near Damascus.

Located around 35 kilometers (22 miles) to the north of Damascus, the Saydnaya complex was the site of extrajudicial executions, torture and forced disappearances, and epitomized the atrocities imposed on Assad's opponents.

The ADMSP estimates that 30,000 people were taken into the facility from 2011 onward, while only about 6,000 have been released, with the others still missing.

International organizations have called for the establishment of mechanisms for justice and accountability in Syria.