The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported this Friday that in the last thirteen years it has recorded the disappearance of some 35,000 people in Syria, coinciding with the civil war and the period of greatest repression by the Bashar al regime. Assad, now deposed by an offensive by rebels and jihadists.
This was confirmed by the head of the ICRC delegation in Syria, Stephan Sakalian, who this week visited the Sednaya prison, which housed thousands of prisoners, many of them political. Thus, it has reiterated the organization’s call for the documents found there to be preserved in order to settle responsibilities.
“We saw hundreds of people waiting outside,” said Sakalian, who revealed that in the crowd he was able to talk to a woman who was waiting for any information about the whereabouts of her son, who had disappeared more than ten years ago. “Behind every case, there is a family and unbearable pain that worsens over the years,” said Sakalian.
In a statement collected by the ICRC, Sakalian stressed that the organization has always worked to “provide answers to families about the fate of their missing loved ones”, elaborating that this right of families has always been “the priority” of the ICRC. ICRC and “still is.”
The agency already spoke at the beginning of the week about the need to preserve all the documents and information seized in Sednaya, and now Sakalian insists that these records may contain “crucial information” for Syrian families to find answers to their questions.
“The ICRC urgently calls on all parties in Syria to prevent the destruction of crucial documents, such as arrest records, lists of detainees or deceased persons, and judicial and hospital records,” said Sakalian, who highlights that after the fall of Al Assad, have supported the released prisoners to reunite with their families.
The offensive in Syria, launched on November 27 from the province of Idlib, allowed jihadists and rebels to take the capital and put an end to the regime of the Al Assad family, in power since 1971 – first with Hafez al Assad (1971-2000). ) and later with his son, Bashar–, in the face of a constant withdrawal of government troops, backed by Russia and Iran.