Amnesty International condemns the Assad regime’s torture and disappearance of refugees returning to Syria
Today, Tuesday, Amnesty International condemned, in a report entitled “You are going to your death”, that refugees who have returned to Syria have been subjected to violations at the hands of the Assad regime’s forces, including arbitrary detention, torture and rape.
The organization appealed to Western countries hosting Syrian refugees not to force them to return to their country, and warned that any government claiming that Syria is now safe is a willful disregard for the horrific reality on the ground.
“Military hostilities may have subsided, but the Assad regime’s tendency to commit flagrant human rights violations has not,” said Marie Forestier, a researcher on refugee and migrant rights at the organization.
The organization has documented horrific violations committed by the Assad regime forces against 66 refugees, including 13 children, who returned to Syria from 2017 until the spring of this year from several countries, most notably Lebanon, France, Germany, Turkey and the Rukban camp on the Syrian-Jordanian border.
The organization’s report counted the death of five people during their detention after their return, while the fate of 17 of those forcibly disappeared is still unknown.
The organization documented 14 cases of sexual violence committed by the Assad regime forces, including seven cases of rape against five women, a teenager and a five-year-old girl.
According to the report, among the accusations leveled against the returnees is “treason or supporting terrorism.” In some cases, returnees were targeted simply because they were previously in areas under the control of opposition factions.
