Syrian Whistleblower 'Caesar' Reveals Identity After Assad's Fall
Farid Al-Mazhan, a former Syrian military photographer who documented atrocities under Assad, publicly identifies himself two months after the regime's collapse.
- Farid Al-Mazhan, known as 'Caesar,' revealed his identity on February 6 during an Al-Jazeera interview, describing his role in exposing crimes against humanity under Bashar al-Assad's regime.
- As a forensic photographer for the Syrian military police, Al-Mazhan defected in 2013 after secretly capturing over 50,000 images of torture, starvation, and executions in regime prisons.
- The photographs, smuggled out on USB drives hidden in personal belongings, provided key evidence for international sanctions and legal actions against the Assad regime.
- Al-Mazhan's work led to the U.S. 'Caesar Act' in 2020, imposing economic sanctions on Syria and supporting prosecutions of regime officials in Europe.
- Now residing in France, Al-Mazhan calls for international support to rebuild a free Syria while reflecting on the personal risks he took to expose the regime's abuses.