Paris , Dec. 10 (SANA) Syrian activist Farid al-Mazhan, known as “Caesar,” was awarded the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law on Wednesday, coinciding with International Human Rights Day. The award was presented at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot and German Minister for European Affairs Günter Kirchbaum.
In a post on the X platform, Acting French Ambassador to Damascus Jean-Baptiste Faivre said: “It is a great honor for France and Germany to award the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law to Farid al-Mazhan, who illuminated, through his courage, the long night of injustice suffered by the Syrian people, enabling the world to witness the atrocities of the Bashar al-Assad regime and paving the way for justice and truth for countless victims.”
al-Mazhan, a native of Sheikh Maskin in Daraa Governorate, revealed his identity on February 6 during an interview with Al Jazeera. At the outset of the Syrian revolution, he served as head of the Judicial Evidence Office at the Military Police in Damascus and risked his life by smuggling tens of thousands of photos and documents exposing the crimes of the former regime against Syrian detainees.
During the interview, al-Mazhan described the process of smuggling the images that contributed to the enactment of U.S. sanctions on the Syrian regime, known as the “Caesar Act,” which played a pivotal role in weakening the regime and ultimately leading to its fall on December 8, 2024.
The Franco-German Human Rights Prize, launched in 2016, is awarded annually to individuals or institutions making outstanding contributions to the defense of human rights and the rule of law worldwide. Recipients have included lawyers defending rights and journalists striving to uncover the truth. Winners are announced each year on December 10 through a joint mechanism between France and Germany, with nominations submitted by their embassies worldwide.
Notably, the Syrian White Helmets were the first recipients of the prize in 2016, received at the time by their director Raed Al-Saleh, who currently serves as Minister of Emergency Management and Disaster Affairs..
