Syria’s Justice Ministry has accused officials from the Assad era of forcibly removing organs from detainees and transplanting them into patients connected to the former regime. The allegations were accompanied by footage purportedly showing confessions from former military officers and medical personnel involved in these operations.

According to the ministry, these individuals admitted to conducting surgeries on prisoners held by Assad’s intelligence service, extracting kidneys and livers for transplantation into relatives of senior regime officials. A former surgeon at Damascus’s Tishreen Military Hospital reportedly said he removed the liver of a healthy detainee in Branch 215, which was then transplanted to a first lieutenant in the Republican Guard. The detainee died shortly after the procedure, while the lieutenant later died due to surgical complications.

Tishreen Military Hospital has long been associated with human rights abuses. Past reports from international organizations and media outlets describe the institution as a site of torture, extrajudicial killings, and severe mistreatment of detainees. Human Rights Watch and others have documented allegations of abuse linked to the hospital and the Assad regime’s intelligence services going back over a decade. Syria’s Attorney General Hassan al-Turba told state media that Tishreen functioned as an extension of Assad’s intelligence apparatus, with much of the current information coming from defectors who once worked at the facility.

Bassam Alahmad, executive director of the human rights group Syrians for Truth and Justice, shared that during his detention in 2012 he was warned by fellow prisoners about the risks of transfer to military hospitals, fearing organ trafficking. He described the practice as a “heinous crime” that, if confirmed, could expose broader networks involved in organ removal and trafficking.

Organ transplantation in Syria faces significant challenges, including cultural and religious barriers that contribute to a scarcity of donors. A study published earlier this year in the journal Nature found that only 10% of Syrian patients in need of transplant receive one, citing distrust in healthcare infrastructure alongside religious restrictions.

Concerns over organ harvesting are not new. More than a decade ago, the Violation Documentation Center reported that organs from both soldiers and civilians killed in the conflict were taken without consent and trafficked to countries such as India, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Media reports and sources cited by the Syrian Observer suggest these practices were systematically concealed by the former regime with involvement from high-ranking officials.

Efforts to investigate these claims remain ongoing, with international observers emphasizing the need for transparency and accountability in light of the serious human rights implications.