Seven years ago, on a day like this, Majd Kamalmaz--an American citizen of Syrian origin--was visiting Damascus. He was detained and disappeared by the Assad regime and his family has not seen or heard from him since. For seven long years, Majd Kamalmaz's family in America--his wife, sons and daughters, and grandchildren--have been separated from him and still have no knowledge of his fate. This experience is painfully shared by millions of other Syrians who have loved ones missing, disappeared, or languishing in prison in Syria, and by around a dozen U.S. hostages detained and held incommunicado in Syria.
The American Coalition for Syria (ACS) calls on the Assad regime to release Majd Kamalmaz or information on him to his family, and calls on the Biden administration and U.S. Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens to continue vigilantly pursuing his case. ACS also calls on the Assad regime to cooperate fully with the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic, release all political prisoners and arbitrary detainees, inform families of the fate of their missing loved ones, and implement the International Court of Justice's provisional order to take all measures to prevent acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in accordance with Syria's obligations under the Convention against Torture.
As the U.S. has noted, people like Majd Kamalmaz who are missing and/or detained in Syria "are not statistics. They are spouses, children, siblings, parents, friends, colleagues, with the full life yet to live."
As the U.S. has noted, people like Majd Kamalmaz who are missing and/or detained in Syria "are not statistics. They are spouses, children, siblings, parents, friends, colleagues, with the full life yet to live."