On December 26, 2024, the Syrian military operations administration announced the arrest of Major General Mohammed Kanjou Al-Hassan in Khirbat Al-Mu’azzah, located in the Tartus countryside of western Syria. His capture follows violent clashes that erupted in the region during a previous attempt to detain him.

Kanjou, formerly the head of the Military Judiciary in Syria, is closely linked to Saydnaya Prison, situated north of Damascus. This facility has become synonymous with the atrocities committed by the regime of ousted President Bashar al-Assad against dissenters, witnessing extrajudicial executions, torture, and cases of enforced disappearance.

Born in 1960 in Khirbat Al-Mu’azzah, Kanjou held a law degree and rose through the ranks of the regime's forces to become a prominent military judge. During the peaceful protests that began in March 2011, he served as the military prosecutor in the military field court in Damascus, where he oversaw the trials of civilian and military detainees. His name is associated with thousands of death sentences and lengthy prison terms.

According to testimonies from defected officers, Kanjou collaborated with heads of investigative branches within the security forces to include a standardized phrase in detainee testimonies, accusing them of attacking military sites. This tactic was used to justify death sentences even for innocent individuals, with detainees coerced into signing these statements without understanding their content.

Diab Sariya from the Association of Detainees and the Missing in Saydnaya Prison stated that Kanjou presided over the military field court from 2011 until the end of 2014 before being promoted to head the military judiciary. He presided over countless summary trials lasting mere minutes, condemning many to death.

Sariya estimated that Kanjou amassed a fortune of around $150 million through extortion of detainees' families, seeking information about their loved ones or facilitating visits and transfers to other prisons, in collaboration with intelligence officers close to Assad.

The Syrian National Coalition, a key opposition group in exile, described Kanjou's arrest as a significant step toward justice and accountability for crimes against the Syrian people. They revealed that he had previously paid $6 million to the presidential palace to extend his service beyond retirement age, before being relieved of his duties in 2023.

The Coalition emphasized that "prosecuting this criminal is a form of justice for the victims and their families, paving the way for a future built on justice, freedom, and dignity in Syria."

Earlier on Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that nine people were killed in clashes in Tartus province after security forces attempted to arrest a military officer linked to Saydnaya Prison.

With the recent overthrow of Assad's regime by opposition fighters led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the doors of Syrian prisons have opened after more than 13 years of brutal repression of anti-government protests, which ignited a conflict that has claimed over 500,000 lives.