US slaps visa sanction on Syrian military officer over Tadamon massacre
The State Department hit Amjad Yousef and his family with visa bans for his alleged involvement in the 2013 killing of 41 unarmed Syrian civilians.
WASHINGTON — The United States imposed a visa ban Monday on a Syrian military intelligence official linked to a near decade-old massacre in the Damascus suburb of Tadamon.
The State Department said it designated Amjad Yousef over his involvement in gross violations of human rights, namely extrajudicial killings. Independent researchers previously identified Yousef in leaked footage showing the killing of 41 unarmed civilians in broad daylight.
The April 2013 video from Tadamon, published last year, shows dozens of blindfolded and handcuffed detainees rounded up by officers in the notorious Branch 227 of Syria’s military intelligence service. In the chilling six-minute video, the detainees are marched toward a pre-dug pit and shot dead by two executioners, one of whom is alleged to be Yousef. The mass grave was then set on fire.
The Guardian reported in October 2022 that Yousef was still working on the Kafr Sousa military base outside Damascus. As a result of the State Department designation, Yousef, his wife and their immediate family members are barred from entering the United States.
