Conferences and events are being held in a number of capitals and cities around the world to shed light on the plight of detainees in the prisons of the Assad regime and crimes taking place against them. They also demanded their release and accountability for systematic torture which killed tens of thousands.
The Spanish capital Madrid today is hosting a conference titled “The White Hearts Caravan for the Release of Syrian Detainees.” One of the participants told local media that the event aims is to rally the world opinion against the Assad regime’s continued injustice, brutal torture and execution of detainees.
Syrian lawyer Bilal Hijazi, who is participating in the conference, told Baladi news network that the Assad regime does not respect any of the rights of the detainees and is extorting money from their families in return of disclosing their fate. He added that the regime is cremating the bodies of detainees and refuses to hand them over to their families.
Hijazi called upon the UN Security Council and the United Nations to take immediate, concrete action to force the “fascist regime” in Damascus to disclose the fate of the detainees and the forcibly disappeared people and to release them immediately.
Rights activist will also hold an event in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Saturday on the fate of detainees in Syria. Titled “Freedom before Negotiations,” the event will include the testimony of three former detainees in the prions of Assad. The first one of these detainees spent 24 years in the notorious Palmyra prison. The second one was detained in 2011 and was released four months ago at a prisoners exchange deal, while the third one spent five years in detention during which he was held in almost all the regime’s security branches.
The events coincide with similar activities and conferences Syrian activists are holding in the liberated areas to highlight the suffering of detainees in the prisons of the Assad regime and demand their immediate release.
The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria earlier called on the Assad regime to give explanations for the causes of the death of thousands of detainees in its prisons. It urged the regime to acknowledge the truth about how victims perished, reveal the whereabouts of their remains, and promptly, thoroughly, transparently, and independently investigating all custodial deaths.
Likewise, Human Rights Watch called on the Assad regime to provide answers to the many questions as to how detainees died in its prisons and questioned the regime’s claims that the detainees died of a “heart attack.” (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
