Vice President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), Abdul Majeed Barakat, emphasized that the SOC is doing everything it can at the international level to secure the release of all detainees in Assad’s prisons and to uncover the fate of the forcibly disappeared. He praised the civil events and activities organized by institutions, activists, and families of detainees in this regard.
In a press statement coinciding with the launch of Detainees Week, Barakat stressed that the Assad regime has used arrest and brutal torture to death since the first day of the Syrian revolution to intimidate civilians and discourage them from joining the revolution, fully aware of the profound harm that detention and disappearance cause both to individuals and their families.
Barakat highlighted that the issue of detainees is a humanitarian and non-negotiable matter, criticizing the United Nations’ performance, which he accused of yielding to the blackmail of the Assad regime. He noted that the UN has failed to force the regime to release the detainees and reveal the fate of the missing, as well as to halt ongoing arrests, a fact corroborated by periodic reports from human rights groups specializing in detainees’ affairs.
Barakat reiterated that the demand to hold the Assad regime accountable for the crimes it has committed against the Syrian people, including arrest and torture, will persist. He asserted that accountability is an essential part of any political solution in accordance with UN resolutions on Syria.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)
