No Hope For Prisoners Of War In Syria
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Roshan Amiri
- . February 13, 2020
- . Update: February 18, 2020 11:05 am
The condition of prisoners of war is never good and definitely never positive. The same is the situation with northeastern Syria, where prisons and detention camps hold thousands of men, women and children. Their future remains uncertain. Their lives are in limbo and this has continued for more than a year after the final defeat of Islamic State was announced. Most of them belong to the same state. Yet they have no rights as a citizen of the same state.
The prisoners also hold foreigners who had fought alongside many Islamist militant groups. There are no takers. Most of these had been brainwashed into fighting for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate. Most of them went onto to kill millions and torture as many, making a historic map of the kind of human rights violation done in the name of religion. Their redemption now looks difficult.
It is therefore no wonder that many European countries, for example, have hesitated to repatriate nationals, fearing a public backlash if they do.
Europeans are said to have comprised a fifth of the roughly 10,000 Islamic State fighters held captive in Syria by Kurdish militias.
Most of these prisoners have been maintained and kept in captive by the Kurdish forces, which were instrumental in clearing the Syrian borders off them. Today, they have been left to look after these prisoners of war, confirming that they don’t have the kind of infrastructure and resources to properly detain, investigate and prosecute the large number of prisoners as well as their families in camps. They have called repeatedly on foreign nations to take back their citizens.
Most of these are held back in the Qamishli city that is still under the Kurdish control, the ones who are legitimate inhabitants of Syria, so considered a threat by the Turkish forces which have been trying to get rid of them ever since the Syria civil war started. Living conditions are pathetic, medical facilities are meager and they are homed in a makeshift prison which was once a school.
The surge of captive civilians who are awaiting to be rescued could break into a mass protest sooner, unless the concerned countries can do the needful. To see more about arab news latest.
