Videos have surfaced online of Syria’s new justice minister, Shadi al-Waisi, overseeing the execution of two women in 2015 over charges of adultery and prostitution.
Al-Waisi is part of the new Syrian government led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which took power after ousting former President Bashar al-Assad on December 8.
Verify-Sy, a fact-checking organization, confirmed that it was al-Waisi in the two videos that emerged online. In one video, al-Waisi is seen reading a ruling that the woman was found guilty of “corruption and prostitution” and sentencing her to death.
In the other video, al-Waisi appears to be carrying a gun and tells a woman to sit down as she’s pleading for her life. Once she moves down, another armed man shoots her in the head.
At the time, al-Waisi was working as a “judge” enforcing Sharia law in areas of Syria’s northwest Idlib province that were under the control of the al-Nusra Front, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria that merged with other Islamist groups in 2017 to form HTS.
HTS and its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Julani, who has been going by his real name Ahmad al-Sharaa, have tried to present themselves as moderates since taking over Syria despite their al-Qaeda past.
An HTS official speaking to Verify-Sy downplayed the video, insisting the group has “moved beyond” such practices. “The content of the video presented to us documents the enforcement of the law at a specific time and place, where the procedures were carried out in accordance with the laws in effect at that time and as part of a procedural agreement. However, we would like to point out that this process reflects a stage we have moved beyond,” the official said.
The US supported the HTS takeover of Syria even though the group still being listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department. US officials also seem to be buying the rebranding campaign despite HTS’s brutal history and its appointment of foreign jihadists in senior military positions.
Barbara Leaf, a senior State Department official, recently held a meeting with Julani, which she said was “good” and “productive,” and announced afterward that the US was removing a $10 million bounty from his head.
