The report, which was provided by an employee in the Civil Defense Center in Hama, states that sexual extortion processes are taking place in the center's building in Hama against the wives of the dead militants of the National Defense Army as they try to secure their rights as widows of those killed in the fighting against the rebels.
The report said that three people were involved in sexual extortion and harassment cases in the form of phone calls to the homes of the wives of the dead (at least 20 cases). The report mentioned four such cases without mentioning the names of these wives in order to preserve their reputations.
The report named the Director of the Martyrs Office, Qahtan Hallaq, and the concierge of the building, Amjad Kafa, and a senior official in the National Defense Army, Anas Assalya, who all worked in Hama center, carried out extortion against the wives of the dead and their families, taking advantage of their financial needs, after they were left without a main breadwinner.
The report also said that the three mentioned officials have deliberately excluded the names of the dead from the list of martyrs payroll to extort their widows. Four cases have been verified, and in each case, these officials were contacting the wives of the dead, offering them easier access to their rights in exchange for sex.
Unfortunately, in some cases, the women responded to these requests in order to get their salaries or at least facilitate access to it.
The report said that Qahtan Hallaq is trying to embezzle the compensation, which ranges from between 200,000 and 300,000 Syrian Pounds, and which is supposed to be given to the families of the dead by asking the wives to give up part of it to an official in Damascus in order to include their names on the payroll.
Activists say that regime's employees only reflect the institutions' morals and practices. Such corrupt practices are no stranger to the regime; it has compensated the families of dead soldiers in Suweida by giving a goat to each family, and in Lattakia, the price of the killed militant is 10,000 Syrian Pounds (500 dollars) presented by the Assistant National Secretary of Baath Party, Hilal Hilal, to the families of those killed from Qardahah as a compensation for the lives of their sons.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
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