Date and Time: Thursday, October 30, 2025, 7:00 - 8:30 PM (Damascus Time)

Location: Via Zoom 

Language: Arabic with English translation, discussion is in both Arabic and English

Moderator: Mina Ibrahim & Abiya Hasan

The MENA Prison Forum is pleased to host the fourth session of its 2025 talk series “Prison Matters: Towards Justice in Syria” with Firas Haj Yheia, Syrian jurist, legal researcher, and human rights activist.

This conversation explores Haj Yheia’s perspective on the future of justice in Syria, tracing the relationship between proceedings outside Syria—such as universal jurisdiction cases and civil litigation—and the potential horizons for transitional justice inside the country. Anchored in his legal practice and research, the talk will examine how external justice processes can inform, support, or complicate domestic pathways toward accountability, truth-telling, reparations, and guarantees of non-recurrence. We will discuss strategic litigation, evidentiary challenges, documentation ethics, and the political conditions necessary for any meaningful transition, while considering the roles of survivors, exile communities, and international actors.

Firas Haj Yheia is a Syrian lawyer and legal researcher based in Paris, and an elected member of the Parliament in Exile in France (2025–2027). He previously practiced at the Damascus Bar Association and has held legal and research roles with the Syrian National Coalition, the Arab Reform Initiative/Syrian Legal Forum, and the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression. He currently advises Zaman Al Wasl and conducts legal–political research on accountability and refugee issues. He appears regularly as a commentator on Al Arabiya, Syria TV, France 24, and Deutsche Welle.

“Prison Matters: Towards Justice in Syria” is a series of conversations hosted by the MENA Prison Forum in 2025. Through the voices of former detainees, families of victims, key activists, artists, and legal experts, the series reflects on justice work inside and outside Syria, and the evolving challenges facing transitional justice.