Press release
Syrian Opposition Coalition
Department of Media and Communications
September 8, 2021
The report recently issued by Amnesty International has revealed only some of the horrors Syrians who return home and those who are forced to return are facing in at the hands of the Assad regime.
The testimonies cited by the report confirm the warnings that the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) and rights organizations have reiterated time and again, especially the risks of forcibly returning Syrians to regime-held areas in Syria.
Amnesty’s damning report must serve as a reminder of the responsibility of the international community and major actors to respect international agreements on refugees and to prevent the involuntary return of Syrian refugees to the regime-held areas under any pretext.
There can be no guarantees for civilians, activists or refugees fleeing death as long as the Assad regime survives in power and as long as its security services continue to exercise their criminal terrorist role.
The criminal, terrorist tendency that has for years persisted in the behavior of the Assad regime is still thirsty for more murder and heinous violations of human rights. Amnesty’s latest report has documented a catalogue of horrific violations committed by the Assad regime’s intelligence officers against returnees, including torture, rape, extortion, and custodial deaths, while the fate of 17 forcibly disappeared people remains unknown.
The report’s findings confirm beyond any doubt that torture, enforced disappearance, and arbitrary arrest are still rampant in the regime-held areas as they were in the past. The pressure being exercised today on Syrian refugees around the world to force them to return to the regime’s hell will put their lives at serious risk of violations should they are forced or pressured in any way to return.
