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Syrian whistleblower Farid al-Madhan - also known as Caesar - (left), German Minister of State Gunther Krichbaum (middle) and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (right) pictured during an the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Paris on December 11, 2025. Photo: JnBarrot/X
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Prominent Syrian whistleblower Farid al-Madhan, widely known by the pseudonym “Caesar,” has been awarded a prestigious human rights prize jointly by France and Germany. Madhan, a former Syrian security officer had smuggled tens of thousands of images documenting torture and abuse in Syrian detention centers, contributing to the imposition of the stifling Caesar Act sanctions on the regime of longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad.
In a statement on X late Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot congratulated Madhan for receiving the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law, praising him for “fighting impunity at the risk of your life” and for helping “open the way to justice.”
“May this example continue to set back the horror,” Barrot added.
The prestigious prize is granted annually by the German and French foreign ministries on Human Rights Day, December 10.
In a press release, Germany’s foreign ministry quoted Minister of State Gunther Krichbaum as expressing his pleasure to have gone to Paris to “honor an outstanding example of civil courage.”
“His courageous commitment has made it possible to bring the crimes of the Assad dictatorship to the attention of the world,” Krichbaum added, noting that Madhan’s documentation of war crimes has played a key role in “bringing perpetrators to account and advancing the criminal prosecution of Syrian war crimes worldwide.”
Madhan, a former first lieutenant heading the Forensic Evidence Department at the military police in Damascus, was primarily identified as a Syrian military photographer under the pseudonym Caesar.
Following the outbreak of Syria’s civil war in 2011 and the brutal crackdown led by the Assad-led Ba’ath regime against anti-government protesters, Madhan was tasked with photographing citizens in detention.
Describing himself during a previous interview as a “son of a free Syria” from “the cradle of the Syrian revolution” - Daraa city in southern Syria - he fled the country in 2013, taking with him around 55,000 graphic images taken between 2011 and 2013.
In an early-February interview with the Qatar-based Al Jazeera, Madhan said the pictures included “old men, women and children, who were detained at security checkpoints in Damascus, and from protest squares that called for freedom and dignity.” He added that he currently resides in France.
The Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019, or Caesar Act, sanctions the former Syrian government, including ousted dictator Assad, for war crimes against civilians. Signed into law in December 2019, its provisions came into effect on June 17, 2020, with the first round of designations issued the same day.
The US House of Representatives late on Wednesday advanced a defense spending bill that includes a repeal of the Caesar Act sanctions.
RELATED: US House advances bill repealing Caesar Act sanctions on Syria
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