Roughly 6,000 people remain in detention in Syria, a figure that frames the release this week of 37 soldiers who had been held at the Hasyaa military prison in the countryside of Homs, in the centre of the country.
The 37 had spent about 20 months in custody. They were freed after no participation in killings or abuses was established against them, and no involvement in crimes against Syrians.
One criterion, two outcomes
The release turns on a single test applied inside the same prison. Detainees against whom no individual responsibility for killings or abuses was established were let go; those against whom the question remains open stayed behind bars. Nothing has been made public about a timetable for resolving the remaining cases, or about further batches of releases.
Calls accompanying the release pressed for the process to continue rather than stop at a single group, and to keep the distinction clear between individual responsibility that has been established and detention that rests on no proven participation.
Why the twenty months matter
For readers following Syria from outside the region, the arithmetic of these cases is often the story. Twenty months separated the moment of arrest from the moment the files of these 37 men were closed with a finding that they had not taken part in killings or abuses. That interval, rather than the release itself, is what keeps the detention file at the centre of Syrian human rights debate.
Hasyaa sits in Homs province, and its military prison is one of several detention facilities in central Syria. The 37 released men were held there for the full period before the decision was issued.
This report was produced by the HuMedia newsroom.
