“For me, leaving Syria was not a choice.” They look at us thinking that we had our safety, we had a choice to stay in our homes, but no, we decided to take the risk to escape illegally, to cross borders, to come here,” she told us. “When the world looks at the so-called refugee crisis, they look at us as privileged people who had a choice. Three of her cousins remain missing after the government disappeared them. The Syrian government threatened her family for participating in anti-government protests. The journey came three years after the uprising began in Syria, followed by government bombings, house raids, and chemical weapons attacks on her town. © 2019 Families for Freedom/ Mohamad Abdullah (Artino)Īmeenah Sawwan boarded a green bus in 2014 without knowing where it was headed, leaving behind her hometown of Moadamiya, in western Damascus. But that would have meant more if information was more accessible to those most affected by the crimes.Īs the following stories of Syrians who struggled with the language barrier at the Koblenz trial show, lack of Arabic translation is a missed opportunity both to increase awareness among Syrians about advancements toward justice and to include them in the process.Īmeenah Sawwan and Mariam al-Hallak, chairwoman of the Caesar Families Association in front of the European Parliament in Brussels, March 2019. Prosecutors say Germany is acting on behalf of the international community through the trial in Koblenz. The impact of accountability efforts on affected communities is strongly related to how much outreach is conducted around the case. The Frankfurt court decided not to provide Arabic translation after the accused in the case waived his right to interpretation, also citing financial considerations.Ĭourt authorities should make Arabic translation more widely available for these cases involving the world’s worst crimes committed abroad. More trials in Europe involving crimes in Syria are expected, including a trial set to begin in Frankfurt in late January against Alaa M., a Syrian doctor who fled to Germany. The court news releases never made it into Arabic, and the written verdicts will also only be made available in German. More than the court sessions were left untranslated. But this service was not available for the broader affected community, activists monitoring the trial, and Syrian and other Arabic-speaking journalists reporting on the case. True, those participating in the trial and a select group of pre-accredited journalists had access to Arabic translation of the proceedings. The language of the court is German, and survivors, witnesses, and others who do not speak German depend on the reporting of those who can physically attend court hearings to follow this momentous case. The trial was a positive step toward justice for Syrians, but the lack of Arabic translation in the German court shut out many Syrians and others. It was the first-ever trial held in Europe where alleged Syrian government agents were charged with crimes against humanity committed during Syria’s decade-long conflict. This past two years, a landmark criminal trial was held in Koblenz, Germany.
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