The Syrian Coalition said that computer engineer Laila Shweikani was killed under torture in the prisons of the Assad regime. It called on the International Commission of Inquiry on Syria to hold those responsible to account.
Assad’s security services detained Shweikani, 28, who holds dual Syrian-American citizenship, in Damascus in 2016. Rights activists said that Shweikani’s family knew about her death after a death notice was sent to the Syrian civil registry as was the case with thousands of victims of torture in the prisons of the Assad regime.
The UN Commission of Inquiry earlier called on the Assad regime to explain 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.
The Commission Chair Paulo Pinheiro on Tuesday said that “the release this year of what may amount to thousands or tens of thousands of names of allegedly deceased detainees and/or missing persons is unprecedented.”
The Syrian Coalition called for condemning the Assad regime and activating the UN’s International Impartial and Independent Mechanism to hold accountable the perpetrators of war crimes in Syria.
In a move that Amnesty International described as “important for achieving justice,” the French judiciary earlier issued arrest warrants for three Assad regime senior officials on charges of torture, enforced disappearances, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The Coalition stressed that achieving justice and accountability for war crimes is key to reaching a political solution as was outlined in international resolutions on Syria, most notably the Geneva Communique of 2012 and UN Security Council Resolution 2254. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
