Published : 05-05-2022
The families of hundreds of Palestinian refugees secretly held in Syria’s state-run prisons have been blackmailed over their appeals for information.
Hundreds of families have paid large sums of money to brokers, crooked lawyers, or government officials to get information about the condition and whereabouts of their missing relatives.
The families hardly ever receive the required pieces of information and the traffickers never show up again as soon as they are paid.
Speaking on Prisoners’ Voice website, ex-prisoners and activists have warned prisoners’ families not to publish their relatives’ personal information on social media networks.
Over recent days, prisoners families, including Palestinian refugees, assembled in the "President's Bridge" area, awaiting the arrival of buses carrying people who have been held for years in Syria’s infamous prisons, many for participating in the 2011 protests against President Bashar al-Assad.
Other families gathered since Monday in Sednaya, north of Damascus, which is home to Sednaya, Syria's largest and most notorious military prison.
Palestinian refugee families expressed fear that their relatives would not be included in the amnesty, saying they have suspicions as to how sincere the Syrian regime could be.
On Saturday, Assad issued a decree giving a general amnesty to people convicted on terrorism charges before 30 April 2022. The amnesty excludes acts that have led to killings or kidnappings, and those against whom there are civil personal claims.
Thousands of Palestinians and Syrians have been jailed on terror charges for peaceful opposition to Assad’s government since the 2011 Arab Spring protests and subsequent war.
The Prisoners’ Council said the regime claimed 2,500 people would be included in the amnesty. However, no more than 40 people have been released so far.
Nizar Sedkni, deputy justice minister, said the amnesty included those convicted of various crimes, including being involved in or financing a “terror group”, a term often used for opposition groups.
Justice Minister Ahmed el-Sayed described the amnesty as a comprehensive national reconciliation, telling the state-operated al-Watan newspaper that it was contributing to the return of thousands of refugees.
The releases come after the Guardian revealed last week that in 2013 military security agents executed about 42 people by pushing them into a hole, shooting them and then burning them.
Thousands of Syrians were discovered killed under torture when a defector leaked nearly 50,000 photographs in 2014, showing the bodies of some 7,000 detainees mutilated by torture.
Over 1,700 Palestinian refugees are believed to be languishing in Syria’s prisons, many of them have spent nearly a decade in prison while scores of others died under torture behind prison bars.
The families of hundreds of Palestinian refugees secretly held in Syria’s state-run prisons have been blackmailed over their appeals for information.
Hundreds of families have paid large sums of money to brokers, crooked lawyers, or government officials to get information about the condition and whereabouts of their missing relatives.
The families hardly ever receive the required pieces of information and the traffickers never show up again as soon as they are paid.
Speaking on Prisoners’ Voice website, ex-prisoners and activists have warned prisoners’ families not to publish their relatives’ personal information on social media networks.
Over recent days, prisoners families, including Palestinian refugees, assembled in the "President's Bridge" area, awaiting the arrival of buses carrying people who have been held for years in Syria’s infamous prisons, many for participating in the 2011 protests against President Bashar al-Assad.
Other families gathered since Monday in Sednaya, north of Damascus, which is home to Sednaya, Syria's largest and most notorious military prison.
Palestinian refugee families expressed fear that their relatives would not be included in the amnesty, saying they have suspicions as to how sincere the Syrian regime could be.
On Saturday, Assad issued a decree giving a general amnesty to people convicted on terrorism charges before 30 April 2022. The amnesty excludes acts that have led to killings or kidnappings, and those against whom there are civil personal claims.
Thousands of Palestinians and Syrians have been jailed on terror charges for peaceful opposition to Assad’s government since the 2011 Arab Spring protests and subsequent war.
The Prisoners’ Council said the regime claimed 2,500 people would be included in the amnesty. However, no more than 40 people have been released so far.
Nizar Sedkni, deputy justice minister, said the amnesty included those convicted of various crimes, including being involved in or financing a “terror group”, a term often used for opposition groups.
Justice Minister Ahmed el-Sayed described the amnesty as a comprehensive national reconciliation, telling the state-operated al-Watan newspaper that it was contributing to the return of thousands of refugees.
The releases come after the Guardian revealed last week that in 2013 military security agents executed about 42 people by pushing them into a hole, shooting them and then burning them.
Thousands of Syrians were discovered killed under torture when a defector leaked nearly 50,000 photographs in 2014, showing the bodies of some 7,000 detainees mutilated by torture.
Over 1,700 Palestinian refugees are believed to be languishing in Syria’s prisons, many of them have spent nearly a decade in prison while scores of others died under torture behind prison bars.
