“The Bulldozer Driver,” a codename he is using for safety concerns, is a whistleblower and key eyewitness to crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Syria by the Syrian regime and its allies.

He worked as a civil excavator driver in Damascus from 2011 to 2013. During the early months of the Syrian revolution in 2011, the Syrian regime forced him to relocate to the Najha cemetery to dig large mass graves. 

He worked at the Najha cemetery for 11 months until the Syrian regime arrested him on trumped-up charges in an attempt to keep him from exposing the atrocities he had witnessed. He was released after his family bribed a high-ranking officer. Today he’s a refugee in Europe and is working towards justice and accountability for the victims he buried.

He would bury hundreds of corpses each week, including women, children, and foreigners. Sometimes he had to roll his bulldozer over the burial site to pack it down tightly to prevent dogs from digging up the bodies. Large refrigerator trucks meant to transport food brought the corpses to the grave site. The trucks were around 20 meters (65.5 ft) long & could carry 300-400 bodies or more. His descriptions confirm other witness testimonies. In total darkness, he and his team buried bodies from sunset to 10 or 11 pm. 

“We buried the bodies of the men and women quickly and forgot to bury the dead infant. Afterwards, when we came back to the truck, the dogs had come and were eating the infant. I can never forget this horrific scene—a newborn became food for dogs,” he said.