Khaberni - The spokesperson for the Syrian Ministry of the Interior, Nour El Din Al Baba, revealed that the ministry is dismantling what he described as the "oppressive administrative legacy" left by the previous regime, especially concerning travel bans and procedures that deprived millions of Syrians of their civil and legal rights.
Al Baba, during a press conference at the Ministry of Information in Damascus, explained that the scale of violations in this file was "unprecedented," noting that the ministry has dealt with approximately 8.3 million travel bans since last February, with about five million removed, while the rest are expected to be resolved in the coming months, as reported by "SANA" agency.
Al Baba stated that procedures that were supposed to regulate daily affairs for citizens had turned into punitive tools over the past decades, affecting everyone without exception, based on outdated and full-of-loopholes databases, some tied to security records that were cancelled and others belong to non-existent ministries.
The spokesperson indicated that the violations affected key sectors, including passports, transit movements, security permits, residences, civil registries, and diplomatic missions, as well as financial files related to them.
Al Baba pointed out that the ministry had started addressing these accumulations since "the day of liberation" through extensive coordination between the immigration and passports administrations, civil affairs, criminal investigations, information, counter-terrorism and narcotics, in cooperation with intelligence and the ministries of defense and justice.
Al Baba revealed the existence of hundreds of thousands of "frivolous" cases in the ban lists, including names included for experimental or training purposes, in addition to thousands of incomplete records, among them about 50,000 names listed as "nationality unknown".
Al Baba affirmed that the ministry is working "in a race against time" to finalize this file within months, as part of the digital transformation and simplification of transactions, ensuring citizens' rights and reducing administrative complexities. He also clarified that the ministry prioritizes political aspects when charges overlap, while criminal cases are processed after thorough verification.
