The plot to conceal Assad’s crimes

People walking to the Sednaya Prison in Damascus, Syria, in December 2024. Thousands of documents and interviews with Assad-era officials reveal how the regime worked to conceal evidence of its atrocities during the Syrian civil war. — Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times

THE heads of Syria’s security agencies arrived in convoys of black SUVs at Bashar Assad’s presidential palace, a marble-and-stone labyrinth overlooking Damascus.

Leaks about mass graves and torture facilities were mounting – and top officials wanted them stopped.