On the Release of Political Prisoners in Syria and Human Rights
There are good reasons for cheering the freeing of political prisoners held in Syria after the fall of the Baath rule. Indeed, no one should be imprisoned for political expression or for belonging to a political trend that disagrees with the ruling party. Therefore, probing evidence of torture and holding those responsible should be the most urgent action, but it must be done independently and transparently. The collapsed Syrian government, like all other governments around the world, created a “label” for social groups it wants to target, legislate a law that criminalize the “label”, and use the law to justify all its abuses. In the last 24 years alone, the Syrian government attached the label “terrorism” to all groups that have opposed its rule, and in many cases, even to those who called for political reform, and used the designation to justify exclusion, imprisonment, and torture of political opponents. The swift and relatively “peaceful” collapse of the Baath government this time, spared the Syrian people much death and destruction that they are all very familiar with. However, the political change is rooted in extreme violence that persisted for more than 14 years, a time during which all armed entities committed human rights abuses. It is unlikely that human rights abuses will end with the fall of Baath government. Earlier this year, for weeks, Syrians in Idlib took to the streets to protest the rule and practices of some of the groups that governed northwest Syrian. From March to May (2024), Read more