Head of the Syrian Coalition’s foreign mission in Germany Bassam Abdullah said that the restoration of peace and the eradication of terrorism in Syria cannot be achieved without a genuine political transition. He described political transition as crucial to ending Assad’s dictatorial rule and allowing the Syrian people to have free elections and a democratic government.
In a letter to the German government urging it to assume its political and moral responsibilities towards the atrocities taking place in the prisons of the Assad regime, Abdullah pointed out that “the fear of death under torture and execution in Assad’s prisons is the main reason why many Syrians are fleeing their country.”
Abdullah’s letter came after Amnesty International has said that the Assad regime hanged to death as many as 13,000 detainees in Saydnaya Prison near Damascus in a report the rights group released on Monday.
On behalf of all Syrian refugees in Germany, Abdullah called upon the German government to take action to stop the crimes against humanity the Assad regime is committing in Syria. He also called for “urgently taking a clear position about Amnesty’s report and to push for the introduction of international monitors to investigate the conditions in the prisons of the Assad regime.”
Abdullah said that the most heinous crimes are being carried out in Saydnaya Prison and other five regime prisons in Syria, noting that detainees are subjected to severe torture and inhumane treatment. The Assad regime and its allies also besiege entire towns and villages to starve the civilian population. They are destroying houses over the heads of civilians using barrel bombs and constant aerial bombardment.
The Assad regime did not hesitate to use chemical weapons and other internationally forbidden weapons against the Syrian people, Abdulah said, adding that the Assad regime also did not show the slightest respect for all truces or UN resolutions and initiatives. All these crimes have so far gone unpunished by the international community, Abdullah added.
Abdullah said that the Assad regime has not yet shown any signs that it is going to negotiate in good faith in the upcoming Geneva negotiations, warning that the Assad regime will use these negotiations to buy time and advance on the ground through the brutal war it is waging on the Syrian people. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
