The Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) participated in a panel discussion under the title “Assad’s phony Amnesty” that discussed aspects of the so-called amnesty that the Assad regime issued in April. The discussion was organized by the Harmoon Center for Contemporary Studies in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Sunday.
The panel discussion brought together SOC’s President Salem al-Meslet, Vice President Ruba Habboush, member of the political committee Salwa Aksoy, members of civil society organizations and the “Don’t Let Them Down” campaign team.
Keynote speakers included politicians and officials in legal and international organizations. The event included testimonies by ex-detainees who were covered by the so-called amnesty and a photo exhibition. It also included testimonies by children of detainees whose fate is still unknown.
Al-Meslet stressed the importance of disclosing the details of Al-Tadamon Massacre at it represents a proof of the endless series of massacres that Assad regime, its militias and backers have been committing against the Syrian people since the beginning of the Syrian revolution.
Al-Meslet said that this massacre must mobilize the international community in order to ensure accountability, which is an essential part of the political solution in accordance with UN resolutions, especially the Geneva Communique of 2012 and UN resolutions 2118 and 2254.
Al-Meslet pointed out that the issue of detainees is present in all the meetings that the SOC is holding with officials and diplomatic missions, the most recent of which was the meetings that took place on the sidelines of the Brussels donor conference.
Moreover, al-Melset stressed that releasing detainees and disclosing the fate of the forcibly disappeared is a priority for the SOC, and requires international action, especially by the United States to put pressure on Russia and the Assad regime.
For her part, Habboush spoke about the need to work collectively on the issue of detainees, stressing the importance of coordination and cooperation between human rights organizations that document detainees to establish a unified database and adopt it in international forums. She also stressed the emergency of the issue of detainees, as there are hardly a Syrian family that does not have a detainee or forcibly disappeared relative in Assad’s prisons.
Habboush pointed out that the SOC is working to clarify the Assad regime’s so-called amnesty and to explain the steps the Assad regime is taking to whitewash its image.
For her part, Aksoy stressed the need for punishing the criminals and rejecting any attempt to normalize relations with the Assad regime, especially by the Arab countries.
Aksoy also stressed the need for continuous popular pressure, even in the host countries and at the level of international organizations, in order to revive the issue of detainees and ensure their rights.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)
