Syria in Podcasts

George has told us about a man named Abu Ayman, a baker whose neighbors say was an informant for the Assad regime during Syria's civil war. Abu Ayman has since left Syria for neighboring Lebanon, but his family who still lives there is dealing with the aftermath of the accusations, which Abu Ayman has denied.

Sometimes the barbers were informants. Sometimes doctors were informants. Everybody was an informant at some point in some neighborhoods. So the documents are very important. And Syrian new government has a huge task ahead to kind of go through them and bring justice to these people who still don't know who disappeared their family members.

Assad ruled Syria for nearly 25 years, and his father controlled the nation before him. This past December, when the Assad regime was toppled by rebel forces, jails were emptied of political prisoners, and journalists gained access to files that had been hoarded by the government surveillance apparatus. They learned who had informed on who and what details had been shared.

Under the Assad rule, Syria became a civilian state where neighbors, colleagues, and even family members were pressured or rewarded sometimes to report on each other. And that has really left a huge distress between people, has left deep scars.