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Explained: Seizing Assets of Defendants Convicted in Absentia

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On October 11, 2023, the Second Criminal Court in Damascus issued a judgment against Palestinian-Syrian Oussama Ahmed Majdalawi, convicting him of the felony of possessing drugs with the intent to use. He was sentenced to three years in prison, fined SYP 500,000 and subjected to civil forfeiture, in accordance with Articles 328 and 329 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Since he remains at large, the court ordered the seizure of his assets and properties.

Mr Majdalawi is not the first to be tried in absentia and have his property seized; thousands of such judgments against fugitives from the law are published in the Official Gazette. What is noteworthy in Majdalawi’s case is that he is not convicted of “terrorism,” possession of smuggled goods with intent to trade, or possession of drugs with intent to traffic, which are the most frequent charges in such cases. Instead, his charge is possession of drugs with the intent to use, which highlights the regime is willing to go to seize properties. The Syrian law, in accordance with the provisions of Article 329, allows the seizure of the property of a person convicted in absentia of any felony of a criminal nature.

A felony is defined as any serious crime designated as such by the Penal Code, carrying a minimum sentence of three years imprisonment. Article 328 of the Criminal Code stipulates that the judgment against a fugitive requires their property to be managed according to the procedures for managing absentee property and not handed over to them or their rightful heirs, such as their children, until the in absentia judgment is overturned. Article 329 involves the procedures for publishing the summary of the judgment and notifying the Land Registry and the General Commission for the Management and Protection of State Properties (GCMPST).

Syrian law does not allow a lawyer to represent a defendant in absentia, whether the charge is a felony or a misdemeanor. The defendant must personally appear before the court and attend all sessions until the judgment is issued, after which a lawyer may accompany them for representation. A defendant is considered a fugitive from the law and is tried and sentenced in absentia under the following circumstances:

  1. If the defendant cannot be apprehended after the referral judge issues a decision to transfer the case to the Criminal Court for an in absentia trial. The referral judge is the higher authority over the investigating judge, handling cases concluded by the investigating judge to decide either to dismiss the case or issue an indictment and refer the defendant to the Criminal Court.
  2. If the defendant is on trial while in custody before the Criminal Court but manages to escape before the judgment is issued.
  3. If the defendant is released by the Criminal Court but then fails to attend subsequent sessions.

In the aforementioned cases, the Criminal Court takes measures against the fugitive as a means of pressuring them to surrender. These measures include stripping them of civil rights such as voting, standing for elections, engaging in real estate transactions, registering civil status events, and obtaining personal documents. Additionally, the court prevents the fugitive from disposing of their property by having the Attorney General send a letter to the Land Registry to place a precautionary seizure mark on their properties.

After the trial concludes and an in absentia judgment is issued for the committed felony, the defendant’s assets and properties remain seized as long as they remain at large. This precautionary seizure does not mean that ownership transfers to the state or that the assets are directly confiscated. Instead, the Sharia court appoints a guardian to manage the defendant’s assets and properties without the right to sell them. The management of the absentee’s assets falls under the jurisdiction of the Sharia judge according to Personal Status Law No. 59 of 1953, which is not within the authority of the Criminal Court, which prosecutes criminal offenses.

The convicted person can reclaim their assets if the in absentia judgment is overturned. This judgment is nullified only after the defendant is acquitted in a retrial following their capture or voluntary surrender. At that point, all judicial procedures issued in absentia, including the asset seizure, are annulled, and the properties are returned to the defendant by the guardian.

However, if the convicted person remains a fugitive, their assets and properties are not seized indefinitely. In this case, the judgment expires after the statute of limitations, as specified in Article 162 of Penal Code No. 148 of 1949.

The statute of limitations is 25 years for crimes of premeditated murder or drug trafficking, which are punishable by death or life imprisonment. For severe felonies punishable by temporary imprisonment, the statute of limitations is double the sentence duration, with a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 20 years. For instance, if an in absentia judgment imposes a temporary imprisonment of seven years, the statute of limitations would be 14 years.

For less severe criminal cases, the statute of limitations is always 10 years. For example, if the Criminal Court sentences an absent defendant to 3 years in prison for the felony of drug possession with intent to use, based on Article 43 of Drug Law No. 2 of 1993, the statute of limitations in this case would be 10 years.

The statute of limitations is calculated from the date the judgment is issued. However, it can be interrupted if the convicted person is apprehended or if the court takes any judicial action against the convicted person, such as searching their home or issuing a warrant for their arrest. In such cases, the statute of limitations is reset and begins anew.

Once the statute of limitations is complete, the criminal judgment is nullified, the penalty is not enforced, and retrial is not permitted. At this point, the convicted person has the right to request the court to lift the precautionary seizure on their properties in the real estate registry, return their seized funds, and release the guardian, who must then provide an account of their management of the convicted person’s assets and properties.

Furthermore, the seizure of a convicted person’s properties in absentia does not affect the rights of others. If a judgment for seizure is issued on the defendant’s assets, including inherited property where they share ownership with others, the court can impose a precautionary seizure only on the defendant’s share as determined by the inheritance certificate. One of the heirs may file a lawsuit for partition in the Civil Reconciliation Court in their area against the other heirs, including the guardian representing the convicted person in absentia. The guardian then manages the convicted person’s share as part of their duties.

Property Fraud and Poor Services in the Yarmouk Palestinian Refugee Camp

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Recent reports of increased property fraud in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus have prompted many displaced property owners to temporarily return, inspect their properties, and implement some protective measures such as installing doors and windows for houses and securing locks for shops. These individuals are required to obtain temporary security clearance to visit the camp.

Activists from the camp, including lawyer NourEddin Salman, have issued repeated warnings on social media in recent months about widespread property fraud occurring in the camp. These fraudulent activities have resulted in a surge of illicit property sales, with an increasing number of homes being sold illegally. A gang is reportedly selling many shares in undivided common properties in the area between Loubieh Street and the Yarmouk Girls’ School and has allegedly amassed around SYP 2 billion through this fraudulent and deceitful scheme, according to activists. Mr Salman advised anyone looking to purchase property in the camp to first inquire with neighbours about the seller and the property, verify ownership documents, ensure the validity of the sales contract, and obtain a current description of the property’s condition and boundaries from a court-appointed expert engineer.

Wafaa, a displaced resident of the camp now living in Damascus, learned from one of her former neighbours that a few individuals recently inspected her uninhabited house on Al-Urubah Street in the camp with the intent to buy it, according to a correspondent for The Syria Report. When Wafaa’s neighbour inquired, the individuals claimed they were there to view the house, which they said was for sale by its owner. After a discussion, the neighbour identified the person who falsely claimed ownership of Wafaa’s house and was trying to sell it. Based on this information, Wafaa filed a complaint with the Yarmouk Camp police station, which managed to detain the alleged seller who claimed ownership of her house. However, according to Wafaa, this individual was able to bribe the police officers, who then wrote in their report that the incident was a mistake rather than fraud, stating that the seller had mistakenly identified the house due to changes in the area’s landmarks caused by destruction.

Nizar, a Syrian Palestinian refugee from Yarmouk Camp currently residing in Sweden, told The Syria Report that he learned through friends still living in the camp that unknown individuals are renovating a house that belonged to Nizar’s grandfather. The house, located on Thalatheen Street, is partially damaged due to the fighting. Nizar confirmed that he has a court ruling proving his late grandfather’s ownership of the property. He added that his grandfather died in 2010, and then his father was killed in a bombing on the camp at the beginning of 2015, and consequently, the 105-square-metre house became the property of 21 heirs, including Nizar.

He noted that complications prevented them from completing the inheritance process, including the war, the siege of the camp, and the disruption of official institutions. Additionally, none of the heirs remains in Syria except for his uncle, who is disabled and unable to manage his affairs. Two of the heirs are missing, and their whereabouts are unknown.

The inheritance inventory document is the primary document used to determine the names of the deceased’s heirs, their relationship to the deceased, and their respective shares of the inheritance. This document can only be issued after the death of the testator, the registration of their death in the civil registry, and the issuance of a death certificate and a family record for the heirs. After this, the relevant court can be approached to obtain the inheritance certificate. The court then appoints an expert to identify the heirs and their shares of the estate.

Nizar pointed out that those renovating his grandfather’s property have a court-certified purchase contract for the house. He is unsure how someone without ownership was able to sell it to them. He plans to appoint a lawyer to challenge the validity of the sale contract in court.

According to The Syria Report’s correspondent, one of the common practices in the camp currently involves seizing adjacent properties or parts of them during the renovation of a specific property. This is done by encroaching on portions of neighbouring properties, exploiting the destruction and the loss of landmarks. According to activists in the camp, it appears that an influential person has usurped land next to the vegetable market on Palestine Street, which belongs to the General Authority of Palestinian Arab Refugees. The land previously contained buildings and homes that were destroyed, leaving only rubble, allowing the influential person to seize the land and build on it.

The correspondent reported that a real estate office employee in the camp mentioned that some fraud attempts were thwarted after news about them spread on social media. He added that with the increasing number of returnees to the camp, it is rare to find a neighbourhood without at least one inhabited house, which now serves as an early warning network for property owners in the same area, who often share relationships or kinship.

According to estimates by the Action Group for Palestinians of Syria in early June, approximately 50,000 people have returned to the Yarmouk Camp. Despite the concerted efforts by the returnees to improve the camp’s service conditions, they face many difficulties and challenges. For instance, the camp remains isolated from neighbouring areas, with only one entry and exit point via the Batikha roundabout in the Zahira neighbourhood.

Most areas of the camp still suffer from significant problems, such as some streets around the Yarmouk Camp cemetery and the entrance to the Zain neighbourhood (administratively part of Yalda) being flooded with sewage water from damaged and decayed pipes. Potholes abound on Safad Street, making it difficult for vehicles to pass, which hinders the return of displaced residents to the area. The lack of drinking water in many neighbourhoods and the absence of electricity limit stability in some regions. Residents of School Street have requested an electricity supply, but to no avail. Even Haifa Avenue, opposite the building of the Public Establishment for Transmission and Distribution of Electricity (PETDE), remains without electrical coverage. Residents resort to installing electric cables at their own expense in areas without electricity, but these either get stolen or removed by the PETDE, citing network infringement.

Rubble presents a major issue across most of the camp, still densely scattered in the Wasim Project, the Moroccan neighbourhoods, Safad Street, Kafr Qasim Street, and others. This problem is exacerbated by returnees clearing debris from their homes and neighbourhoods, often dumping it around the houses or transporting it to the PETDE’s land area on Thalatheen Street.

Meanwhile, the camp municipality has begun allowing owners of completely destroyed houses to remove the debris and manage it. Typically, these owners make agreements with building contractors to remove the rubble for free in exchange for the contractors taking the iron and metals from the debris to sell to metal traders.

Explained: How Denying Children their Syrian Mother’s Nationality Impacts HLP Rights

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Depriving the Syrian mother of granting nationality to her children directly affects their rights to housing, land, and property ownership, including their ability to legally manage real estate, their rights to inheritance, and the transfer and registration of property in their names in the Land Record.

According to Decree No. 276 of 1969 concerning Syrian nationality, there are only two ways to acquire nationality: either through the principle of territory for those born on Syrian soil, even if of unknown parents, or through paternal lineage for those born to a Syrian father, regardless of the place of birth.

The decree does not grant nationality to those born to a Syrian mother and a foreign father. This means a Syrian mother cannot pass her nationality to her child through maternal lineage, except under strict conditions.

Notably, the law grants Syrian mothers the right to pass on their nationality to their children in only one case: if the birth occurs on Syrian soil and the father is unknown. This exception thus equates the birth on Syrian soil of a child with an unknown father to that of a child with unknown parents. A child born to a Syrian mother and a known but stateless father will also be stateless. This situation includes a significant segment of Syrian Kurds known as the unregistered and the foreigners of Hassakeh.

While children of a Syrian mother and a foreign father can, in principle, inherit the mother’s movable and financial assets, they are treated as foreigners in matters of real estate. According to Law No. 11 of 2011, which regulates the ownership of real rights to property by non-Syrians in Syria, a foreigner can own only one legally licensed built property, not exceeding 140 square meters, for residential purposes only.

Children of a Syrian mother and a foreign father are not permitted to own property inherited from their mother, except in one case: the principle of reciprocity. This means that if the foreign country where they hold citizenship allows the transfer of property ownership to Syrians through inheritance, then the children of a Syrian mother and a foreign father can inherit property from their mother. If their country does not allow this, the children are not permitted to inherit property from their mother, whether the property is inside or outside a zoning plan.

Law No. 11 of 2011 grants them a two-year period from the date of inheritance, meaning from the death of their mother, to transfer the ownership of the property to a Syrian citizen through sale or transfer. If this two-year period expires without action, the property ownership is transferred to the General Commission for the Management and Protection of State Properties, which will compensate the heirs according to the provisions of Expropriation Law No. 20 of 1983.

Law No. 11 of 2011 allows for an exception to the above rules through a decision by the Council of Ministers, based on a proposal by the Ministers of Interior and Foreign Affairs, who can permit the transfer of property ownership in Syria through inheritance if the heirs are non-Syrian.

Explained: The Right to Dispose of Amiri Lands

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The right of ownership entitles the holder to use, benefit from, and dispose of their property, according to Article 768 of the Syrian Civil Code. This means that full ownership grants the owner authority over the property, its benefits, and its disposal. Therefore, the right to dispose is a real right concerning the property, derived from the ownership right, enabling the holder to dispose of it.

The right to dispose of real estate  is only used in reference to Amiri lands, which are owned by the state, and can be subjected to disposal rights. The state, as the owner of Amiri lands, grants individuals the disposal right to benefit from them, allowing them to use, exploit, and lease them. Disposal can be physical, such as digging or planting trees, or legal, such as transferring the disposal right to others while keeping the land’s ownership or the property’s base with the state.

The Syrian Civil Code does not include a definition of the disposal right but addresses it while defining the ownership right. The provisions related to the ownership right in the Civil Code apply to the right to dispose of Amiri lands, according to Article 772 of Civil Code No. 84 of 1949, unless the law states otherwise. This includes the scope of ownership, means of protection, limitations, reasons for acquisition, registration, and transfer.

Thus, the right to dispose is a limited ownership right, confined to granting the holder the authority to use and exploit the real estate, not its ownership. The right to dispose is similar to the right of usufruct in that both are real rights derived from the ownership right, but they differ in that the right to dispose applies only to Amiri lands, while the right of usufruct applies to owned real estate. Moreover, the right to dispose is a perpetual right that transfers to the heirs after the death of their ancestor, the disposer, whereas the right of usufruct is a temporary right that ends either when the term expires or upon the death of the beneficiary in all cases.

The right to dispose also differs from the ownership right in several respects:

Firstly, the ownership right pertains to real estate properties in administratively zoned and defined areas, whereas the right to dispose applies only to Amiri lands, where the state retains the ownership and grants others the right to benefit from them. Additionally, the ownership right recorded in Land Registries is a permanent right that does not expire with time, in contrast to the right to dispose, which expires if the land is not used for five years, according to Article 775 of the Syrian Civil Code.The right to dispose of Amiri lands can be registered in the Land Registry after 10 years from the date of possession if the possessor has cultivated the land, according to the judicial precedent set by the Court of Cassation in decision No. 293 of 1955.

The State Litigation Authority, which represents state institutions in legal proceedings whether initiated by or against them across various courts and levels, can claim the recovery of Amiri lands and convert them into private state property. This has not occurred in practice, but it remains a theoretical possibility, especially in the context of forced investments carried out by the state on properties belonging to forcibly displaced persons and those who have moved to opposition areas.

Secondly, in the event of death, the ownership right is subject to inheritance laws according to the Personal Status Law of 1953, which is based on Islamic Sharia, whereas the right to dispose of Amiri lands is governed by the Law of Transfer of Immovable Property of 1928. The 1928 law grants equal shares to both male and female siblings when dividing the inheritance among them. If a piece of Amiri land later falls within zoning boundaries and becomes privately owned property, this does not affect the heirs’ rights, and female shares cannot be reduced under the pretext that the legal status of the property has changed to privately owned and is subject to Islamic inheritance rules. The acquisition of rights by the heirs occurred before the legal status of the property changed, based on Article 825 of the Civil Code, which considers a person who inherits a property as its owner before registration. If Amiri land becomes privately owned before the disposer’s death, then the property is inherited according to the Islamic inheritance provisions in the Personal Status Law.

Thirdly, a property owner can endow it, meaning transfer it as a waqf (endowment) to the Ministry of Waqfs and its directorates, whereas those with the right to dispose of Amiri lands cannot establish an endowment right on them. Any waqf created on Amiri land is considered invalid according to Article 774 of the Civil Code.

Explained: Usufruct Rights

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The Civil Code No. 84 of 1949 outlines the provisions and legal nature of usufruct rights, defining them as a real right that pertains to the property itself without any intermediation from others. Usufruct rights grant the holder direct authority to use and exploit an immovable or movable property while the actual ownership, or “bare ownership,” remains with the owner.

In other words, ownership rights allow the owner to dispose of, use, and exploit their property, including the benefit of its use. However, an owner can relinquish the usufruct rights to another, granting that individual the power to use and exploit the property while retaining the right to dispose of it.

Furthermore, an owner of a property encumbered with usufruct rights can sell the property, but the usufruct rights remain with the beneficiary. The beneficiary can exercise their rights over the property, benefit from it, and relinquish their usufruct rights to another without the property owner’s consent. This means that a new property buyer does not have the authority to evict the beneficiary.

This illustrates the difference between renting and usufruct. While renting is a personal right and not a real right, it guarantees the tenant the benefit of the leased property but does not grant them the right to use and exploit it. Therefore, the landlord can evict the tenant.

Conversely, the usufruct beneficiary cannot make ownership transactions with the property, which remains solely with the owner. This is supported by judicial precedent in Court of Cassation decision No. 1436 of 1980, stating that the beneficiary has a real right over the property and can transact with it, except for its ownership or “bare ownership.”

Usufruct rights are established through a contract between the property owner and the beneficiary, where the owner grants the beneficiary the right to use the property, with or without financial compensation, while retaining the bare ownership. If the usufruct applies to real estate, this right must be registered in the Land Registry or marked with a claim to establish the usufruct on the land record.

In this case, the beneficiary is required to conduct an official inspection to identify the property subject to usufruct and its contents. The beneficiary must also provide a guarantor or a cash or physical guarantee to compensate the property owner for any damage at the end of the usufruct period. These two conditions (the inspection and the guarantee) are not mandatory. They can be waived by the contract establishing the usufruct right, according to Article 939/2 of the Civil Law. The beneficiary must also take care of the property and return it to the owner in the same condition as it was at the beginning of the usufruct, under penalty of being responsible for any subsequent damages.

Usufruct rights can also be established through prescription (Statute of limitations), provided that the property has not undergone delimitation and census, meaning it does not yet have a Land Record. Usufruct rights on such land are acquired through long prescription, that is, after 15 years of possession of the property.

Usufruct rights are not permanent; they expire either at the end of the specified term or upon the beneficiary’s death. Therefore, usufruct rights are not transferred to the heirs of the beneficiary. This contrasts with the rights concerning Amiri lands. In the case of Amiri lands, the state owns the bare ownership but grants others the right to dispose of them, allowing these individuals to use, exploit, and cultivate the land. The benefit of such disposition transfers to the heirs upon the death of the disposer, and if included within zoning plans, the property can become the absolute ownership of the beneficiary (or their heirs), allowing for the legal classification of the property to be changed from Amiri to private ownership.

Various Factors Hamper Restoration of Properties in Old Damascus

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During the regular meetings held by the Damascus Governorate Council in January, members’ interventions focused on the delay in issuing licences for the restoration of old buildings in Old Damascus, which could expose them to the risk of collapse.

Old Damascus has its own directorate under the Damascus Governorate, serving as its municipality. Its jurisdiction is the area within the old walls of Damascus, extending from the Damascus Citadel and Al-Hamidiyah Souk in the west to Bab Sharqi in the east. This area has been listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1979.

The semi-official Al-Watan newspaper reported on January 14 that Omaima Abboud, the director of the Old Damascus Directorate, said that a new committee had been formed to inspect old properties in Old Damascus, assess their level of danger, and identify those at risk of collapse.

The committee comprises representatives from the Old Damascus Directorate, the Damascus branch of the Engineers Syndicate, and the Directorate of Service Departments in the Damascus Governorate. However, the formation of the new committee excluded the Directorate of Antiquities affiliated with the Ministry of Culture, the only body with the expertise and personnel capable of identifying damages in the old city and proposing ways to mitigate and repair them without harming the fabric of the old city.

There is a contradiction in the tasks and the need for the new committee. The duties of municipalities in the Damascus Governorate include inspecting buildings at risk of collapse and issuing urgent restoration licences for them. Therefore, the Old Damascus Directorate is responsible for regularly inspecting properties within its scope of work, taking necessary actions to mitigate risks to them, granting restoration licences, and supervising their implementation.

The Damascus Governorate is hindering the municipalities’ authority, including the Old Damascus Directorate, in issuing restoration permits, according to an informed source from the Damascus Governorate who spoke to The Syria Report. The Damascus Governorate is stringent in granting restoration licences (officially named the reinforcement and partial reconstruction licence) to owners of private properties in Old Damascus. The Governorate justifies this by stating that the area is historical and requires special treatment in terms of structural study, and the type and quantity of materials used in restoration. The Governorate also mandates the presence of the property owner or their heirs when applying for a restoration licence. This requirement is difficult to fulfil as Old Damascus is experiencing judicial disputes among generations of heirs over inheritance and old estates, as well as disagreements between tenants and landlords under old residential lease contracts and commercial leases subject to compulsory extension. These complications have led to restraint on disposal marks being placed on many properties’ land records, preventing the acquisition of restoration licences.

For example, a property in Old Damascus containing several residences may remain registered in the name of its owner decades after their death due to disputes among the heirs over the division of the estate. At the same time, that property is inhabited by multiple tenants under old lease contracts in the names of deceased individuals. Thus, disputes over properties in Old Damascus can occur on various levels, between the heirs of the property owners on one hand and between those heirs and the heirs of the tenants on the other. In all these cases, the rental law does not specify the contracting parties’ responsibility for restoration, nor does it oblige any party to undertake the restoration.

With all these complexities, no party can obtain a regular restoration licence. Therefore, to protect against the collapse of the property onto its inhabitants, residents sometimes resort to conducting restorations without a licence, which the Damascus Governorate considers a construction violation under Legislative Decree No. 40 of 2012. Property owners lose the right to obtain a restoration licence in case of violation. Initially, the unlicensed violation must be settled before applying for a new restoration licence. However, the Damascus Governorate no longer accepts the settlement of violations before the issuance of Law No. 40 of 2012. 

The Governor of Damascus insists that the only solution for any construction violation is its removal and demolition. Therefore, it’s notable that members of the Governorate Council have, during recent meetings, called for the settlement of building violations in Old Damascus that can be proven to have occurred before the issuance of Law 40 of 2012.

On the other hand, in the absence of problems between heirs and tenants, residents of Old Damascus face another equally complex dilemma. The area is archaeological, and sometimes there is a conflict of authority between, on the one hand, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Endowments, and the Ministry of Tourism, and on the other, the Damascus governorate regarding the restoration of some properties. 

If the owner of a private property in an archaeological area manages to obtain a restoration licence, the restoration must be supervised by the Damascus Governorate and the Ministry of Culture. If the property is built on a religious endowment property or adjacent to a religious site, the Ministry of Endowments must also be involved in the supervision. The Ministry of Tourism is added if the property has a tourism facility. In all cases, the restoration is at the property owner’s expense alone. These supervisory bodies do not provide any assistance, financial support, guarantees, or banking facilities for restoring damaged properties, even if the property is at risk of collapse. The Damascus Governorate does not intervene in restoring any property at risk of collapse unless it poses a danger to public facilities.

Explained: Agricultural Regulation

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There is no precise definition for an agricultural regulation. However, it is a commonly used term for a notice issued to a farmer who owns their land. By obtaining this agricultural regulating document, the farmer gains access to government-subsidised agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertiliser, diesel fuel and a certificate of origin for the crop. The farmer can only obtain the agricultural regulation notice if they commit to planting specific crops like wheat, barley, cotton, and sugar beet following the annual agricultural plan approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform. The farmer is also required to sell the crop exclusively to the state. An agricultural regulating notice is not considered a property ownership deed per se.

Various laws and decisions mention agricultural regulation. Among these are the Agricultural Production Regulating Law No. 59 of 2005 and its executive instructions, amendments via Decree No. 28 of 2014 and Decree No. 14 of 2017, and the Ministry of Agriculture’s Decision No. 8/T of 2006 and its amendment via Decision No. 125/T of 2016.

It is not easy to define agricultural regulation terms from these laws and decisions, as the term can sometimes refer to the Ministry of Agriculture’s annual plan, sometimes to the notice granted to the farmer, and sometimes to the administrative procedure or application for obtaining agricultural regulating notice. Adding to this ambiguity is using terms on official websites such as “agricultural regulating procedure” and “entering into agricultural regulation,” which implies adherence to the annual agricultural plan.

Simply put, the agricultural regulating notice is the document that a farmer who owns their land (and sometimes also raises livestock) obtains by adhering to the annual agricultural plan. This notice allows the farmer to extract another document called the “agricultural licence,” which in turn entitles them to access facilities and guidance, and subsidised quotas of seeds, fertiliser, diesel fuel for agricultural use and feed sold at reduced prices and in quantities that match the size of the land and the number of animals. 

The validity period of the agricultural licence is five years and is renewable. In recent years, to renew the agricultural licence, it has been sufficient for the farmer to provide a written commitment that there has been no change in their previous information. If the agricultural plan is not followed, such as planting a different crop, the farmer is deprived of both the agricultural regulation notice and agricultural licence, and financial penalties are imposed.

The agricultural regulating notice is a prerequisite for applying for agricultural loans from the Agricultural Cooperative Bank and receiving compensation provided by the Fund for Mitigating the Impact of Drought and Natural Disasters on Agricultural Production.

To obtain an agricultural regulating notice, a farmer submits an “agricultural regulation” request to the Agricultural Extension Unit in their area, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture. The farmer must have a deed of ownership for their land or a real estate record from the Land Registry or citizen service centres. If they do not have such documents, any of the following documents may be substituted: a judicial ruling or decision with final judgment, a statement of land use for beneficiaries of agrarian reform, a judicial declaration of ownership, a certificate of land transactions for lands that have not undergone delimitation and census, a lease or sharecropping contract, a general or special power of attorney organised by a notary public, a statement of ownership from the land distribution committee for reclaimed lands not yet registered in the names of their owners in the Land Registry, or a retention and waiver statement issued by the Directorate of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform for owners covered by the agrarian reform law in specified and released areas.

Obtaining any of these documents, including the property deed, is not easy for many farmers, often due to the lands not being subdivided. Their ownership remaining in common, the processes of delimitation and census not being completed, the marks of Restraint on Disposal that prevent transactions, pending inheritance disputes, in addition to issues with agrarian reform laws that grant farmers the right to use the land rather than own it.

To resolve these complications, at the end of 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture agreed to accept the physical inspection notice as an alternative to ownership documents when submitting an agricultural regulating procedure. A physical inspection notice is an on-site inspection conducted by a committee from the Agricultural Extension Unit for the concerned land based on a request from the stakeholder.

Due to all these administrative and bureaucratic complexities, farmers’ interest in agricultural regulation in regime areas has declined over the past few years, especially with the reduction in their diesel, fertiliser, and seed quotas and the falling prices of crops set and purchased by the state. Many farmers have seen agricultural regulation as a losing venture, turning instead to more economically viable crops such as vegetables, grains, pistachios and cumin and taking charge of marketing them independently.

Explained: The Impact of the Estate Inheritance Inventory Document on HLP Rights

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The estate inheritance inventory document (EIID) is the fundamental basis for identifying the names of a deceased person’s heirs, clarifying their degree of kinship and determining their entitled shares of the inheritance. This document can only be issued after the person dies, their death is registered in the Civil Registry, and the heirs extract a death certificate and family registration statement. Afterwards, the relevant court can be consulted to obtain the EIID. The court then appoints an expert to determine the heirs and their shares in the estate.

The general rule in distributing shares among the heirs is to consider the entire estate as a single unit valued at 2,400 shares, distributed to the heirs each according to the size of their personal share. This rule applies regardless of the number of heirs and the size of the estate.

Through the EIID, each heir can subsequently handle their inheritance share, such as selling all or part of it. If one of the heirs sells or does other actions of the estate’s properties before organising the EIID and sells a larger share than what is allotted to them, this is considered selling someone else’s property. This action cannot be executed without the consent of the rest of the heirs.

The importance of the EIID stems from its role in clarifying the status of the estate’s owners in legal disputes. Article 85 of the Land Registry Law No. 188 of 1926 states that proving the rights of the legal heirs is done by presenting the inheritance certificate (EIID) if the estate is owned. Therefore, an heir may not file a lawsuit against another heir unless they present an EIID before the court. 

However, if someone other than the heirs files a lawsuit against the estate (to collect a debt, for example), the lawsuit must be against the heirs identified in the EIID. The claimant can obtain a certified copy of the EIID and present it to the court handling the lawsuit if the heirs have previously set up the document. If they have not, the claimant can request the court to create a special EIID for the lawsuit during the same case.

If the estate is Amiri land, the conciliation judge must decide the case according to Article 85 of the Real Estate Registry Law.

It is necessary to clarify the difference between the EIID set up by the heirs and an EIID specific to a legal case. The EIID set up by the heirs is considered general and can be used in various cases, both by the heirs and by third parties with rights (creditors, for example). On the other hand, the EIID specific to a particular case is limited to that case and cannot be used in another lawsuit.

To extract certified copies of the EIID, the heirs must preserve the decision number and date of the original EIID.

On the other hand, the EIID serves as a legal solution to cease legal disputes upon the death of one of the parties in a lawsuit. The lawsuit cannot continue unless an EIID for the deceased is presented, representing them by the heirs in the ongoing legal dispute. After notifying the heirs, the court continues the proceedings in accordance with Article 166 and the following articles of the Civil Procedure Law.

The EIID must be created in accordance with the nature of the estate. Generally, movable assets and real estate located within a given zoning plan require a Sharia EIID for their division. However, if among the estate’s properties there are Amiri lands – i.e., those located outside of a zoning plan – a legal EIID is necessary for their division.

The difference between the two types is that the Sharia EIID is produced by a Sharia court according to the provisions of inheritance and bequests in Islamic law, as stipulated in the Personal Status Law. On the other hand, the legal EIID is produced by the civil reconciliation court within the jurisdiction in which the heirs reside, and the inheritance is subject to the provisions of the Law on the Transfer of Immovable Property of 1928, which regulates the provisions for transferring Amiri lands to heirs.

It is crucial to emphasise that the production of the EIID primarily depends on the information provided by the heirs. Therefore, any incorrect information is considered a distortion of the truth and entails criminal liability as it constitutes a forgery crime, according to judicial precedent No. 115, Decision 247 of 2002. Such cases could include the heirs intentionally omitting the name of one of the beneficiaries to deprive them of their inheritance.

How Non-Recognition of Official Documents Impacts HLP Rights

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Many complexities surround the Syrian government’s refusal to recognise civil events, such as marriages, births, and deaths, in areas currently outside its control or those occurring during the opposition’s control of areas later recaptured by the regime forces.

For instance, per the official Syrian civil records, Manal is still listed as single despite having been married for three years and giving birth to a child, who is now one and a half years old and undocumented. Manal resides in the city of Maarat Al-Numan in the Idlib countryside, under the Syrian Salvation Government’s (SSG) control. She cannot register these events with any Civil Status Departments affiliated with the Syrian government’s Ministry of Interior. Consequently, due to her marriage and childbirth, her newly acquired rights to housing, land, and property are now at risk.

The Civil Status Law No. 13 of 2021, an amendment to the old Law No. 26 of 2007, does not recognise documents not registered in the Syrian state’s official records. It states that in a civil event involving a citizen in Syria, the relevant documents should be submitted directly to any civil registry centre responsible for its documentation. Thus, personal status events not registered in the Civil Status Centres of the Damascus government’s Ministry of Interior are not acknowledged. Owners of such undocumented incidents must, instead, go through the process of re-establishing them.

Residents of opposition areas must return to regime-controlled zones to confirm their marriages and register births or appoint relatives or lawyers to do so on their behalf. Many residents fear detainment by security agencies if they return to the regime’s areas of control.

Najwa was forcibly displaced from Darayya with her husband during the forced evacuation of residents and the opposition forces in the summer of 2016. They eventually settled in Idlib. However, her husband passed away in 2018. None of Najwa’s relatives have returned to Daraya, and the possibility of her returning is not under consideration.

Najwa could not sell her share of a licensed building once owned by her deceased husband in Darayya, Rural Damascus, because she isn’t recorded as a married woman in the official registries. She would first need to return to regime-controlled areas or assign one of her relatives to register her marriage at the Civil Status Department, followed by her husband’s death. Only after that can she initiate the legal inheritance procedure for her late husband’s properties.

Sara was displaced from Wadi Barada in Rural Damascus to Idlib with her husband and child at the end of 2016. She faced a significant issue after her divorce. Sara married in 2013 and could not register her marriage at the time because the area was out of regime control. Similarly, she couldn’t register the birth of her child. Consequently, Sara cannot legally document her divorce either. Currently, Sara lives with her son in the Aleppo countryside and holds a family card issued by the SSG in 2017. Her ex-husband now lives in Idlib and has remarried. Documents issued by the SSG or the opposition-run Syrian Interim Government (SIG) are not officially recognised in areas under regime control.

Sara’s father still resides in Wadi Barada and has tried to document her marriage, childbirth, and divorce on her behalf. However, he returned fearing arrest because the regime had issued a warrant for his daughter’s ex-husband for security reasons. Thus, Sara is still officially single, and her son doesn’t exist in official records, which might later hinder him from inheriting from his father.

Umm Omar was displaced from Douma in the Damascus countryside to the Aleppo countryside. Security reasons also prevented her from registering many family-related events. Her husband, Abu Omar, was killed in regime prisons. However, his family managed to get his death certificate before their displacement from Douma in mid-2018. The late husband owned a house in a zoned area in Douma and had businesses. Omar, Umm Omar’s son, was killed by a rocket shell on the Afrin front in the western Aleppo countryside in 2020. Omar had recently married, and his son was born two months after his death. Umm Omar can occasionally return to Douma, but her lawyer advised her against registering her son’s marriage, death, and the birth of her grandson, as her son is also wanted for security reasons.

Umm Omar tried to process the inheritance of her deceased husband in 2019. He used powers of attorney for her children residing in opposition areas. However, government employees were apprehensive about accepting these powers of attorney. Even if Umm Omar manages to process her deceased husband’s inheritance, documenting her son’s marriage and death remains highly challenging. Therefore, it seems that her late grandson and his widow might be unable to claim their inheritance rights in the foreseeable future.

In all the mentioned cases, it is essential to highlight a significant obstacle in Law No. 13 of 2021. Article 44 of this law prohibits any modification or correction of civil status records unless based on a final judicial ruling. This means that to adjust or correct civil status records, one must go through the judicial process, which effectively excludes the poorest and most marginalised due to its costs and the need for a lawyer.

Council of Ministers Seeks to Increase Investment in Absentee Lands

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After successful auctions for farmlands belonging to absentees from the forcibly displaced people, the Syrian government is seeking to replicate the process in other areas under its control. 

Meanwhile, the Council of Ministers says it is managing and regulating investment contracts for lands cultivated with fruit-bearing trees, especially pistachios and olives. Such decisions often neglect to mention the owners of those lands or describe the owners as “absent” and their properties as “vacant.” 

First-degree kinship

In Decision No. 12011, issued in October, the Council of Ministers allowed first-degree relatives of displaced people to invest in their vacant lands should those properties be put up for public auction. These relatives are exempted from participating in the auctions. However, the decision did not specify the areas included in these auctions. 

Based on Ministry of Agriculture Resolution No. 291 o 2022, the decision states that first-degree relatives, such as mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, may announce which of their relatives’ properties they wish to invest in 15 days before the start date of the public auction for those properties. 

It is unclear why the Council of Ministers limited its decision to first-degree relatives when similar priority was given to first-, second-, and third-degree relatives in auctions in the Hama governorate. Second-degree relatives include grandparents, siblings and grandchildren. Third-degree relatives include aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews. In all these cases, relatives only have priority when investing in the lands going up for auction but for not entering the auction itself. 

Inheritance inventory

It appears that the Council of Ministers assumed that absentee owners of vacant lands are deceased, meaning that their relative who is investing in the property must conduct an inventory of the inheritance. This document applies to someone whose death has been proven factually or de jure, per Personal Status Law No. 59 of 1953 and its executive instructions. The inheritance inventory aims to determine heirs entitled to the inheritance and their degree of kinship to the deceased person. It also shows the shares given to each heir. 

The purpose of this strange request, i.e. conducting an inheritance inventory for someone who isn’t proven dead, is to identify those closest to the absentee landowners. The inheritance inventory document has no relation to a deceased person’s properties and does not include a list of their assets or real estate. Decision No. 12011 also did not specify which kind of inheritance inventory is required in this case: legal or compatible with Islamic law. For example, legal inheritance inventory is used only for Amiri lands owned by the state, where the beneficiary has only the right to dispose of such properties. 

Local committees 

According to the decision, the Council of Ministers has approved the formation of local committees in all relevant administrative units tasked with ensuring property ownership for people who lost their title deeds. Each committee comprises the administrative unit head, the local party branch leader, the head of the extension unit, the mokhtar, the farmer’s society head and a local community representative over 50 years of age. 

The decision also stipulates that the committees are responsible for the results of their work. Their results are limited to real estate investment in the 2022-2023 agricultural season. The decision affirms that these results have no impact on the future ownership of the real estate in question.

These committees are similar in form and mission to the so-called “spatial-technical” committees in Hama and Idlib governorates. These bodies are tasked with determining ownership of agricultural lands and writing inventories of properties belonging to people who have been displaced to opposition-held areas. 

However, the newly announced local committees differ because they include a community representative over 50 years of age. According to a local correspondent for The Syria Report, the measure aims to legitimise the committees to a certain degree. The correspondent added that there are some security requirements for appointing this representative. These conditions include that the representative is a permanent resident of regime-held territory and has no oppositional political views. 

These strict requirements limit the representative’s knowledge regarding real estate operations during any period of opposition control over a given area or among opposition groups. This includes any purchases, sales, transfer of ownership via inheritance or heir disposing of their ownership of properties. 

There are also fears of corruption and favouritism on the part of the local committees, similar to what happened with the spatial-technical committees in Sinjar and Hawa east of Maarat Al-Numan in Idlib governorate during past agricultural seasons. Members of those committees used their influence and relationships with security officials to form private companies to invest in absentee-owned farmlands. They also blocked the granting of priority to relatives of the landowners. 

In cases where there is more than one first-degree relative who wishes to invest in a piece of land, they must visit the relevant local committee to register a record of their agreement over who will invest. Then they must register that document with their governorate’s contracts department and obtain approval to begin investing. 

Other miscellaneous provisions

Under Decision No. 12011, investors who are relatives of the landowners must return the lands to their owners should they return. They must also cultivate the land per the Ministry of Agriculture’s production plan or face revocation of their property investment rights. 

The decision also requires that investors who are relatives obtain security approval issued by whichever security service controls the area. These approvals are based on security reports and intelligence evaluations by local informants, municipality members, and farmers’ societies affiliated with the Farmers’ Union. 

So-called “investor-relatives” must also submit a civil extract record for first- and second-degree relatives of the property owners and those who have invested in the land. 

If there are no first-degree relatives identified with the landowner or the relatives fail to prove their kinship, the absentee-owned lands are automatically put up for public auction. 

Explained: Bequests in the Druze Sect

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Under Syria’s Personal Status Law No. 59 of 1953, which is based on Islamic Sharia principles, the Druze’s inheritance rules are the same as those for other Islamic sects. That being said, the rules for drawing up bequests differ in the Druze sect. 

Rules for bequests

The Druze faith considers a person’s bequest an obligation for each member of the faith. Article 307 of Personal Status Law No. 59 of 1953 entitles the Druze to regulate some personal status matters unique to their sect, which includes bequests. Accordingly, members of the Druze sect may distribute their assets in their bequests as they see fit. 

This means that people in the Druze community may grant and deprive inheritances to whomever they wish. According to Article 307 of Law No. 59, “the bequest is to be implemented for the inheritors and others, with one-third and more than one-third” of the inheritance. Among the Druze, the bequest is the first item to be implemented following someone’s death. 

The bequest must remain valued from the time of its creation until the person’s death for it to be implemented. It may become invalid in some cases, such as if a person changes their bequest or loses their mental capabilities or if the beneficiary dies before the writer of the bequest dies.

Whether or not the beneficiaries are from the same religion as the writer of the bequest has no impact, as Druze bequeathment rules state that a person may choose to distribute their assets after death as they see fit. 

Mechanisms for implementing bequests in the Druze community

An individual must formally register their bequest to ensure its implementation – that is, it cannot become legally enforceable until after the court issues a ruling in its favour. The beneficiary, or one of the beneficiaries, must file a lawsuit requesting the registration of the bequest before either the Doctrinal Court of the Unitarian Druze in Suweida or the Second Doctrinal Court in Ashrafieh Saynaya in Damascus Countryside. 

The litigants in such cases are all the heirs, as well as those not included in the bequest. The aim is to give everyone a space to express their opposition to formal will registration. 

After the parties have presented their evidence, the judge must issue a final judgment on the bequest and either approve or reject it for registration. If approved, the bequest will be implemented. 

Rulings may be appealed before the Sharia Chamber in the Damascus Court of Cassation, specialised in personal status issues. The appeal must be filed within 30 days of the litigants being notified of the doctrinal judge’s ruling. 

Suppose the Court of Cassation approves the decision that confirms the bequest. In that case, the bequest has final approval and may subsequently be considered enforceable before the Ministry of Justice’s Department of Civil and Legal Implementation. This department launches the process for implementing the bequest by addressing the Land Registry to transfer ownership of any real estate properties to the beneficiaries. 

 

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