A human rights organization warns families of detainees in the prisons of the Assad regime against falling victim to fraud and extortion
Rights activists in the “Working Group for Palestinians of Syria” warned, in a report, that the families of detainees in the prisons of the Assad regime are victims of fraud and financial extortion run by mediators and lawyers claiming to know the whereabouts and fate of the detainee in exchange for high sums of money.
The report stated that the warning came after the circulation of news on social media, about the transfer of large numbers of detainees in the security branches and in Sednaya prison to Damascus Central Prison “Adra” in preparation for their release soon as part of a general amnesty on the occasion of the elections in Syria.
The Association of Detainees and Missing Persons of Sednaya denied the news, and stressed in its publication not to participate and contribute to publishing these news “in order to protect the feelings of the families of the detainees and forcibly disappeared persons and to prevent them from falling victim to fraud and financial extortion.”
In previous reports, Amnesty International accused the Assad regime of kidnapping and arresting tens of thousands of civilians, and the Assad regime profited from the spread of enforced disappearances, and the emergence of a black market of deceit and ruse, taking advantage of the desire of victims’ relatives to know the fate of their disappeared loved ones in exchange for money.
