Mustafa HOMS. 1 November 1975 – 6 February 2023

بالعربية

It is with the deepest sorrow that we announce the death of our Deputy Chief of the Syria Investigations Unit, Mustafa, and his family. Mustafa, his wife Rola, their beautiful children Tala, Hanin, Mays and Omar all perished in the devastating earthquake that struck North-Western Syria and Turkey on 06 February 2023.

Mustafa was an integral part of CIJA’s investigative team, joining the very first cohort of investigators in 2011. He was a passionate advocate for accountability and believer in justice. He was a beloved team leader and a visionary, not losing hope even in the darkest moments of a cruel war that has ravaged his homeland.

Mustafa was from Ar Rastan, Homs which is where his investigative journey began. A trained lawyer, he was a highly skilled international crimes investigator who secured enormous troves of evidence inside Syria. Over the last twelve years he has made invaluable contributions to the quest for truth and justice about atrocities against the Syrian people, not least to the case of Colvin v Syrian Arab Republic which established the truth about the brutal campaign of sniping and shelling of the people of Homs in 2012. Mustafa will be remembered for the great compassion, empathy, and dedication with which he carried out his life’s work.

His legacy will live on.

Above all, Mustafa was a devoted family man. “When I am with them, there is no war,” he was known to say. He lived and breathed for his wife and children, always striving to secure a better future for them.

Mustafa will be dearly missed by his friends, family, and colleagues.